The Once Forgotten Nightmare
by BlueAce918
Summary: RE main characters Chris, Jill, Claire, and Leon join two OC's in a struggle for freedom when they're kidnapped by a jaded scientist trying to rebuild the Umbrella legacy. Rating T for mild language and some violence. For those that don't want a slight recap of the RE history, skip to chapter 2.
1. Chapter 1

_June 8, 1998_

_Raccoon Times._

Dead Woman Brings Toll To Eleven

Early this morning Raccoon Police discovered the body of an as yet unidentified woman in Hope Park. The woman, who appeared to be in her early twenties had been mutilated in a similar fashion to the other victims, bringing the toll up to eleven since the attacks first happened in May. Citizens of Raccoon City are being encouraged to remain in doors after dark, and not to venture into Hope Park alone. The once popular jogging and recreation area has now been deemed a hazard zone.

No new evidence about these murders has emerged, however Police Chief Brian Irons held a press conference this morning to help quell the worried citizens. "We are doing everything we can to put an end to these horrible murders. We will find these killers and they will face the justice they deserve." Was all the condollances he offered the citizens. When asked about why the Special Tactics And Rescue Squad hadn't been brought in to help Irons stated "We are using all resources available to us. As of this moment we do not feel help from S.T.A.R.S. is nessicary."

The S.T.A.R.S. have been a part of the Raccoon Police department as a separate division for over thirty years. It was created by the government as a way to counter acts of terrorism, but in recent years its officers have been used in many applications. Members are trained in many forms of combat, as well as tactical maneuvering. They have been used in the past during hostage negotiations, bomb defusals, as well as search and rescue. Chief Irons himself was a part of S.T.A.R.S. in his younger years.

Although they work as their own separate autonomous department, they do not have the freedom to join an ongoing investigation without the request from the chief. Which leaves the citizens of Raccoon wondering why they haven't been brought in to help.

_June 24, 1998_

_Mountain Post_

Umbrella Donates to Fund Search and Rescue Efforts.

Early this morning representitives from the pharmecutical conglomerate Umbrella announced that they would be aiding in search and rescue efforts by donating both money and supplies to the Raccon City Police Department. Umbrella, who operates a plant right in the city, provides jobs for more then half the city's citizens and feel that it is their duty to help defend this great city.

In an interview Sharon Dodgers, spokesperson for Umbrella stated "We at Umbrella feel that we must join the cause and do everything possible to help locate those still missing. Our workers deserve to know their friends and families are safe and we will see to it that they are returned to their homes." She went on to express her gratitude to S.T.A.R.S. for their hard work and dedication. "I look forward to working with the members of S.T.A.R.S. and believe that our partnership will be instrumental in solving this case."

When S.T.A.R.S. Captain Albert Wesker was asked about the pairing he sang a slightly different tune. "Although the S.T.A.R.S. thank Umbrella for their donation, we will solve this crime through police work, not charity events. My team is already hard at work piecing together the puzzle. We have the best and brightest on hand and we will handle this situation."

He would provide us with no further comments. As of now we thank Umbrella and S.T.A.R.S. for their cooperative support, and pray the missing make it home safe.

_July 22, 1998_

_Raccoon Times_

S.T.A.R.S. To Deploy To Arklay Mountains

Yesterday evening Police Chief Irons and Mayor Harris announced that they were finally sending S.T.A.R.S. into the investigation as a full rescue operation. The squad will be sending in Bravo team early tomorrow morning to search the forests at the base of the mountains.

With the recent string of cannibalistic murders, starting in May, Irons has determined that the situation is too great for RPD to handle alone. He is working close with Captain Wesker, in hopes that S.T.A.R.S. can flush out the supposed cult living in the forests. We pray that they are swift in the location of the killers, and wish them luck.

_August 17, 1998_

_Mountain Times_

S.T.A.R.S. Members Vanish

Special Tactics and Rescue Squad members, have been missing since yesterday. Many people believe that the groups accusations against Umbrella have caused the four survivors of the Arklay Mountain incident to go into hiding.

Survivors Barry Burtin, Rebecca Chambers, Chris Redfield, and Jill Valentine have been shunned by both the RPD and the citizens of Raccoon for their outlandish accusations against Umbrella. The former S.T.A.R.S. returned from the mountains only a couple weeks ago, and quickly went public. Speaking out against Umbrella and insisting that the company had been working on a bio-weapons experiment.

The Spencer Mansion located in the Arklay Mountains became quite the popular spot, but as of yet no evidence has been found to prove what the former S.T.A.R.S. are claiming. Stories of walking dead, and mutilated giants have left the former squad members in bad standing with the community.

Umbrella itself had little to say on the matter. Spokesperson Sharon Dodgers simply stated "Umbrella has done nothing but help protect this City. We created medications and make up. Not bio-weapons." The war between the two groups has sparked quite the split of the citizens of the city.

"The S.T.A.R.S. probably caused this problem in the mountains and they blame Umbrella to take the pressure off them" Said Robert Cole, a researcher for Umbrella who has been employeed there for over twenty years. "It's simply a case of he said she said. We at Umbrella will continue as we always have, this incident will not be our downfall."

As of now there is no new information on the wearabouts of the former S.T.A.R.S. Some believe they have simply gone into hiding. Others believe something more serious has happened, however there is no way to tell for sure what has happened.

_September 18, 1998_

_Raccoon Times_

Cannibal Killer Strikes Again

The body of a teenage boy was found inside Hope Park yesterday afternoon showing similar injuries as the victims back in May. Hope Park, which lies at the base of the Arklay Mountains was the site where the first attacks were found, and is now again the subject of controversy.

Chief Irons and Mayor Harris are planning to hold a press conference tomorrow to discuss the incident and do everything they can to help calm the shaken citizens of Raccoon City. Irons has stated that he is recruiting fifty new officers, from around the country as a counter balance for the now dismantled S.T.A.R.S. team.

The officers should be arriving within the next couple of days and Mayor Harris is particularly confident that the RPD's new numbers will help put an end to these killings once and for all.

_October 3, 1998_

_Washington Post_

Viral Outbreak Destroys City

As the explosions have finally settled down in the Midwest, we have learned the truth about the viral outbreak that devistated the small city of Raccoon, only a couple of days ago.

Survivors Leon Kennedy and Claire Redfield have come forward, with similar accusations as the members of S.T.A.R.S. had back in July. Other survivors of the incident including former S.T.A.R.S. member Jill Valentine, and two young girls named Sherry Birkin, and Eliza Cole have confirmed the story.

If the accusations weren't shocking enough, we here at the Washington Post have received numerous photos from Raccoon City, taken just before the bombs were deployed. The photos which are too graphic to display here, confirm the stories the survivors have told us. Mutilated bodies, walking dead, and strange experimental animals reveal a horror story.

The pharmecutical company Umbrella has been shut down pending an investigation by the CDC, and we here at the Washington Post are very interested in the results.

**August 15, 2013**

**4:17 PM GMT**

**Chris Redfield:**

Southern California was hot this time of year. And muggy, he couldn't forget muggy. It was nothing compared to Africa, but it didn't make him feel any better. His shirt clung to his chest with a mixture of sweat, and deodorant and he glanced up from under the broken air conditioning unit in his younger sister's apartment.

"Hand me that screw driver." He motioned with his right hand as he used his left to hold the metal bracket in place. "Once I get this screwed in you should be all set."

The girl standing in the room with him complied and handed over the tool without a word. She was clad in blue jean shorts, a pair of flip flops, and a dark purple tank top. Her auburn hair was pulled back into a simple pony tail, as it usually was, and the wisps of hair too short to make it, hung around her face. She frowned a bit and ran the back of her hand across her forehead as she watched her brother work.

It was remarkable that he could fit under the a/c unit at all. Chris Redfield was built like a tank. The forty four year old, was almost six feet tall, and was solid as a rock. His arms were bigger than her head, but yet he still managed to wedge himself into the small space beneath the air conditioner, and pull it all apart. By this point his t-shirt was drenched, and he felt like he needed a shower. His jeans were covered in dust from the old vents, and his dark hair was speckled with bits of dirt that had fallen down on top of him. With a couple quick turns of the screw he finally lifted himself out from under the unit and wiped his hands off on his jeans. He glanced at his sister and frowned a bit, with concern.

"All right, why not tell me why you really called me over here. I know you're capable of fixing a broken air conditioner." He crossed his massive arms over his rather broad chest and tapped his foot at her.

"Nothing is wrong. It's just ever since ra-" She stopped talking and shuffled her feet on the floor, averting her eyes away from his stern gaze. "You've been so busy, is it so wrong for me to want to spend time with my brother?"

Chris felt a stab of guilt flow through him at his sister's words. He hadn't exactly been around much for her, since everything had happened with Umbrella and Tricell. The BSAA had kept him busy, and off in remote corners of the world, making sure that the bio weapons that the pharmaceutical company Umbrella had created didn't get released into the hands of terrorists. BSAA. Bio-terrorism Security and Assessment Alliance. It was his job.

"Listen Claire, I know that things haven't been right for a while, but you don't need to use a broken appliance to get me over here. Just tell me you want to see me." He took a step toward her and wrapped his arms around her petite frame. She felt almost fragile to him, but he knew better to think of his sister as weak. She was anything but. Claire was a fighter, always had been, and despite her small stature, she could, and would, kick his ass if needed. "Just sometimes I get busy, and can't always come visit. You know if you needed me I would be here no matter what was happening."

"I know... It's just..." She took a step away from him and frowned as his phone rang. "You should get that. It could be Sheva."

Chris scowled and nodded. His partner, Sheva would be calling him any day now with information about a new terrorist group that may have gotten their hands on a sample of Umbrella's most recent bio weapon. And sure enough, as he saw her image reflected on the screen of his cell phone, he glanced at Claire with an apologetic look. She gave him a shrug and turned to head into her small kitchen.

"What is it Sheva?" He asked into the phone.

The crisp British voice on the other end informed him that she had located the main group and would be heading out to deal with them in the morning, and he was expected to be there. He sighed and agreed before hanging up and sliding the phone into his pocket. His South African partner wasn't usually so formal sounding, and it told him that something was probably seriously wrong if she seemed so worried about the situation. He knew he was going to have to leave tonight, and he felt horrible to do so to Claire.

"Listen Claire…"

She held up a hand as he entered the kitchen, and gave him a small, yet soft smile.

"It was good to see you Chris. Just be careful okay?"

He looked down with a frown, but nodded. He didn't say goodbye to her as he walked to the door of her apartment and turned the handle. They never said goodbye. To them it was too final. Instead he turned to her and placed a hand into his pocket.

"Once this is over, we are going to take some time away from all of this, Jill and Leon too. We all need a break."

She nodded and her smile grew to a more genuine one. "That sounds nice Chris. Just focus on this mission, and we can figure the rest out later."

With that he turned the handled of the door and vanished into the hallway. For a moment he leaned against the door to her apartment, wondering if he should just call Sheva back and tell her he couldn't get a flight. It wouldn't be the first time he had made some sort of excuse to avoid work. He had done it plenty when he was younger and working in the S.T.A.R.S. But this was different.

Sighing inwardly he finally pushed himself off the wall and began the trek down the long hallway to the complex exit. He wondered for a moment what could be going on and why it was Sheva sounded so odd. But the thought was soon pushed out of his mind as the afternoon sunlight, and heat hit him. He would have to make it to LAX by the evening, and glancing at the roadway he began actually questioning whether he would make it or not.

"Excuse me sir? Can you give me directions?"

Chris paused a moment with his car keys in hand, and aimed for the driver side door of his Toyota Tacoma. Glancing over his shoulder he glanced at the man who was jogging up to him. The special agent in him assessed the man in less than a second. Business suit, briefcase probably filled with paper work, brown leather shoes, designed to look more expensive than they really were. He was mid to late forties, with dark brown hair that was graying at the temples. He had a decent build, and was only a few inches shorter then Chris.

"I'm sorry but I'm not really from around here."

The man came to a stop and panted slightly, trying to catch his breath, and he glanced up at Chris from behind a pair of thin framed glasses. He looked like a lawyer, and Chris didn't particularly care for lawyers. But he knew he needed to be polite, and so he waited for the man to get himself situated. Although he kept himself aware of possible escape routes, just in case the man tried to rob him. That was thing about what he had been put through in the last ten or so years. He was paranoid, hell they all were.

_Relax Redfield. The guy's probably telling the truth, not everyone you meet is a secret agent out to kill you_.

He forced himself to relax, and gave the man a lopsided smile as he finally seemed to get his breathing under control. "I was trying to find Hotel Solemar. Do you know it?"

Chris blinked and tipped his head to the side. Oddly enough the man had picked the one place in San Diego, besides Claire's apartment that he actually knew of. In fact he had taken his sister to Jsix, the restaurant there for her birthday just a couple days ago. He turned away from the man and motioned down the highway.

"Hop on 94 W and continue to F st-." He paused as he felt a bee sting right at the back of the neck. He swatted his hand but felt nothing there. "F street, take a left onto 6th a-" He paused again as he felt a sudden wave of exhaustion come over him, and he turned to face the man in the suit. He felt suddenly dizzy, and it was making him want to vomit. The man looked a bit concerned and put his briefcase down on the ground.

"Are you alright? You don't look so good. Maybe it's heat stroke."

Chris could hear the man talking, but it sounded far away, like he was in a dream. His vision waivered and within a couple of seconds, everything was dark.

**August 16, 2013**

**06:08 AM GMT**

**Eliza Cole**

_Run Eliza, run… Don't stop… Don't ever look back…_

The twelve year old heard her father's words echoed in her mind as she ran through the empty streets of Raccoon City. The clapping of her dance shoes was drown out by the thumping of her own heart. She kept repeating his words over and over as she ran. The monsters all around her were moaning from the dark alleys and Eliza pushed her body to keep moving.

Her father had told her to go to Mr. Mortin's house. But when she arrived, she was faced with the same gruesome scene she had left at her own home. And so she ran again. She didn't want to keep running. She wanted to find a quiet place to hide and wait for everything to disappear. As she saw the abandoned garage, she knew if she made her way inside she would be safe. She could curl up in a dark corner and if she wished it enough, it would all go away.

She slammed the door open, even as the creatures closed in behind her. Her lungs burned, and her legs were beginning to feel like jelly from all the running. They were calling for her, as she closed the door and ran to the back, huddling down in a small corner and pulling her legs close to her chest. Eliza squeezed her eyes closed, and hugged herself, trying not to hear the sounds that began to surround her.

_Thump… thump… thump…_

She wasn't aware of her own screams as she shot up in bed. Her body, covered in a cold sweat and she struggled to catch her breath. She was in her own room, in her home, just outside of D.C. She was a twenty eight year old adult, not a twelve year old child. Eliza rested her body against her head rest, and closed her eyes trying to regulate her breathing. She hadn't thought about Raccoon in a long time, and with her mind swimming as she began to gain back her focus, she questioned why she was thinking about it now.

She had done a good job of pushing those memories to the farthest reaches of her mind. She had seen what Umbrella had done. What her father had helped make. He worked at the chemical plant on the outskirts of town. When he had rushed home that fateful night in September, he had been shot. He told them all to hide, that something had happened. He called it a leak and that they needed to escape the city.

Eliza opened her eyes and looked around the room, as her heart finally settled down to a semi-normal beat.

_BAM!_

Eliza screamed for the second time and without hesitation she snatched her 9mm off her end table, sacrificing her glass of water and alarm clock. She locked onto the man standing in her doorway and leveled her gun. As her glass fell to the floor and shattered her attacker swung his own gun around and locked eyes with her.

For a moment they stared at one another. Neither moved, and nothing in the room made a sound. Eliza didn't blink as she stared down the Matilda that was pointed between her eyes. They stayed that way for only a couple of seconds, but it felt like hours ticking away.

"El? Drop the gun." his voice seemed to float across the room at her. It was calm sounding, but firm. Her mind knew that she needed to comply with his request, but she couldn't convince her body to follow through. "Eliza…. Put it down…."

She kept her emerald hues locked with his sapphire ones but slowly, she lowered her weapon letting it fall into her lap, with an almost defeated look. Her partner, Leon Kennedy was there in an instant, scooping up the Beretta and resting it on the end table once again before turning his attention back on her.

"El? Are you alright? What happened?"

She shook her head at him, and her curls swung around her face. She needed a moment to relax herself before she was ready to be interrogated, and he seemed understanding of it. He dropped his weapon on the mattress out of her reach and took a seat on the edge of her bed waiting for her to gain control of her emotions. Part of her wanted him to leave so she could have a moment to herself. The other part of her wanted nothing more than for him to stay right where he was.

She shifted her eyes toward him and looked him over. He seemed tired somehow, his dirty blonde hair hung around his face and he had dark circles under his eyes. She opted not to mention it; instead she leaned over the edge of the bed and lifted the alarm clock by the wire resting it back in its spot on the end table.

She hesitated a moment as she registered the time. It was just after six in the morning, and she let out a sigh as she rubbed her temple. She could see that he was still in his pajamas and she felt a little bad for waking him up. Especially when it was over something as stupid as a bad dream.

She lived closer to base then he did, and on more than one occasion he had stopped at her house for the night. He had his own key, and she had to admit that having someone there with her most of the time, was a lot better than living by herself. Even if he wasn't there all the time, it was still nice to know that he could be. And she was certainly happy that he was there now, even if it was just a bad dream.

She could feel him watching her, and she turned to face him

"I'm fine, I just had a nightmare"

He scoffed the sound seeming so natural coming from him. He made it a lot. She expected him to tell her not to be a baby, and that she needed to get over the incident at Raccoon City. But instead his look softened and he brushed a curl out of her face. He could relate better than most people, since he himself was a survivor of Raccoon. They had never encountered each other during the outbreak but when he found out that she had survived he had made a point to meet her.

It wasn't long after their first encounter that they requested to become partners. That was four years ago. They got along well, and had done a lot of things together. He let his hand fall into his lap and closed his eyes a moment as if he were struggling with some sort of internal debate. One side had clearly won out as he opened his eyes and pulled himself into a standing position.

"I still think about it too." He stated after a moment

She was surprised at how candid the statement was. Normally when Leon talked it was littered with sarcasm and a lot of passive aggressiveness. But not this time, this time he seemed distant, and almost sad. She pulled herself to her feet and walked over resting a hand on his shoulder before heading around the bed to clean up the broken glass from her water.

She carefully lifted up the large pieces and placed them into the trash bin next to her end table. She heard Leon leave the room and she ignored him, assuming he left to go change. She continued picking up the pieces and blinked as the dust pan was suddenly in her field of vision. She looked up at Leon and took the dust pan with a smile.

"Thank you…"

He nodded and headed out of the room again, yawning as he vanished around the corner. Eliza finished cleaning and sat on the floor a moment trying to remember her dream. She didn't really want to remember but something in the back of her mind urged her to keep thinking about it. It was a basic memory, for as much as she could remember, and after a couple moments she gave up trying.

The shock with Leon had taken most of the memory back out of her mind, and she had to admit she wasn't that upset about the fact that she couldn't really remember it. She pushed herself to her feet and made her way out of the bedroom and headed to the kitchen, still trying to remember her dream. The shower was on in the bathroom, and as she rounded the corner into the kitchen she was faced with a new problem.

_I forgot to pick up coffee…._

The empty container stared up at her from the counter top, and she made a face at it. She felt like it was taunting her somehow. If there was a morning she needed her coffee, it was _this_ morning. She sighed and leaned against the counter, glancing out the window at the two cars parked in the driveway. Leon's white jeep wrangler and her Blue Toyota corolla sat there, begging to be driven. She stood and snatched her keys off the hook next to the door and walked over to the bathroom, knocking on the door.

"Leon?"

She heard him pause in his movements, and a muffled sound floated toward her. She cracked the door a little so he could hear her better.

"I'm going to get coffee." She made sure to sound louder than the water, and he pulled the curtain back enough to poke his head out.

"Can you get me a large? Black" He asked.

She nodded and headed out into the hall, closing the door behind her. She fiddled through her key ring and took hold of the one for her car. The trip would take her just over twenty minutes, especially at this time of the morning.

Double checking that she had her wallet she slid into the car and started the ignition. The engine roared to life and she reversed down the driveway.

_Clunk…_

She blinked as the engine started to die out, and she pulled the vehicle forward back to her spot, just as the car died completely. She grunted and tried to start it again, turning the key in the ignition. The car sputtered sadly and she let out an exasperated groan before getting out of the car and slamming the door shut in annoyance.

She tromped back up the porch stairs and stepped into the house, snatching Leon's keys off the hook. She deposited hers onto the counter and Leon leaned into the kitchen with a confused look on his face. Eliza sighed and motioned out the window with a frown.

"My car won't start."

He followed her gaze and looked out the window.

"I'll take a look at it this afternoon"

She waved the key at him before heading out for the second time. His jeep was bigger than her car, but she had driven it a few times before. She turned the key and heard the car come to life. Without waiting for his car to short out, she backed out of the driveway and headed down the road.

She made the ten minute trip, humming to the radio and bobbing her head slightly. The lights of the coffee shop illuminated the otherwise dark road. She pulled into the parking area as the sun began peaking over the horizon. The hazy morning twilight gave the area a creepy undertone.

As she pulled around the building she blinked, noticing the orange traffic cones blocking off the drive thru. There was a crude paper sign informing her that there was a problem with the speaker, and all orders would have to be taken inside. Cutting the wheel, she pulled the jeep into a parking spot and headed into the building.

It was a simple looking café, with some round wooden tables tucked into the corners, and large cushioned chairs. The decorations on the wall made it look like a knock off Starbucks. The walls were littered with contemporary photos in black and white of downtown D.C. and she found herself looking at them as she waited for the cashier to take her order.

"Good morning. What can I get for you this morning?" The young man working the counter gave her a lopsided smile and she ordered the coffees.

It was a simple order, and it only took a minute or two for the guy to get them ready and hold them out over the counter for her. Eliza slid the money toward him and took the drinks out to the car. She placed her coffee on the roof to free a hand to open the door, and something flew by her head pinging off the metal of the jeeps frame.

Eliza dropped Leon's coffee and spun around, her senses on alert. She scanned around her, listening for any sort of movement. For a moment or two nothing moved, and nothing made a sound. She frowned as her heart began to beat harder, and she slid her hand behind her to find the lock with her key. Turning it in the lock she spun and pulled open the door, snatching her own coffee off the roof and sliding inside. She would take a moment before heading back in to replace his drink; right now she needed a minute to figure out what could have hit the car.

She scanned the windows from the inside, for cracks and found nothing. Pushing the door open again she stepped out of the vehicle and ran her hands over the frame feeling the small dent. She looked at it a moment and glanced around trying to figure out what could have hit the jeep. Hopefully Leon wouldn't notice.

As she turned back to the jeep she spotted something rolling around on the ground. Pulling her attention back down to it she crouched and lifted it off the cement, looking at it. The small piece of metal looked like a silver BB, and Eliza rolled it around her fingers.

"Stand up, and don't turn around"

She closed her eyes and sighed. How could she have been so stupid? She knew how to handle situations like this; she had been trained to do so. The drills replayed in her mind as she straightened herself up. She felt – what she assumed was a gun barrel – pressing into the small of her back. She didn't speak; she simply complied with the demand, and kept her body facing the car.

"Get me your wallet, and hand me the car keys."

"I have to mo-"

"DO IT!"

She nodded and pulled open the car door and leaned inside. Her fingers reached for her wallet, but as her eyes fell onto her cell phone sitting in the center console she shifted her hand and tapped the call button twice. It would dial Leon, and she prayed that he answered the phone. She pulled the keys out and dropped them on the ground so she didn't need to turn toward her attacker.

Eliza watched the word connected appear on the cell and she lifted the wallet off the passenger seat, and began talking suddenly.

"You can have my wallet, I will drop it on the ground. Just lower the gun and I'll let you have whatever you want." She tried to give out as much information as she could, without giving away what she was doing. She felt the man press the gun harder into her back and yell something about giving him what he was asking for.

Before she could react he was grabbing her and pulling her away from the car. She struggled, not going to be taken so easily, and she began yelling out what she could see. Describing everything she could about her attacker, and the area. She just prayed Leon could understand her through the phone. She felt something hard smack her in the back of the head and everything went fuzzy.

_Leon… help me…._

**August 15, 2013**

**1:26 PM GMT**

**Nick Parker**

"It's not that complicated to understand. Just take the files down to the lower office and hand them out to the people listed on the folders. Do I need to come down there and _show_ you how to do your job?"

The director of the BSAA was yelling into his cell phone at some asshole that couldn't figure out how to pass out paper work. And as a result Nick Parker and his partner Jill Valentine were stuck in the waiting room, sitting around when they should have been seen over fifteen minutes ago. He didn't like waiting around for things. He could be patient when he needed to be, but when it came to waiting for assignments Nick was never really very patient.

His feet had already been propped up on the small coffee table in the office because it annoyed the Director, and if he was going to keep the two of them waiting like this then Nick was going to make sure he did everything he could to drive the man nuts. He saw Jill glance at him, but she seemed a little worried about something. Like her mind was in a different place.

She was an attractive woman, he couldn't lie about that. She was slender, with nice curves that were semi hidden at the moment by the tactical vest she wore over her blue BSAA shirt. But he knew they were there. Her blonde hair was pulled back into a ponytail at the base of her neck, and she had a baseball hat perched on top of her head. He realized after a moment of thinking about it that Jill always seemed to be in a hat of some sort.

He could remember a time when she had brown hair, in fact the first time the two had ever worked together she was a brunette. When he had seen her again with her blonde hair and asked about it, she had said she didn't really want to go into detail. As much as Nick hated mysteries, he could see that it was something that upset her, and he had never pushed the matter. Just as now, he wasn't going to push why it was she looked so goddamned worried. He shifted his eyes to the clock on the wall and let out a sigh.

"Something bothering you Parker?" Jill's voice was sweet, and almost delicate. He had to admit he had a huge crush on the woman. He saw her tip her head to the side, and wrinkle her forehead with concern.

He got a grin on his features. Partly because he didn't want to worry her, and partly because he _had_ worried her. "Yeah, just hate being called for a meeting, told to be here on the dot, just to be kept waiting while the boss chats on the phone."

He could see the agreement in her eyes, even though she never outwardly agreed with him. The two of them had taken their jobs seriously and as the Director pushed the office door open fully, he rose to his feet without another thought on the matter. Instead he simply walked into the office and took a seat in one of the velvet padded chairs that stood in front of the oak desk.

He had expected Jill to sit down right after him, and when she hadn't he turned in his seat to look at her. She had an oddly blank look on her face, as if she was mentally somewhere else.

"You plan on joining us at some point Miss Valentine?" He heard Director Reese ask rather sarcastically from the other side of his desk.

For a moment Nick thought about defending her, but she had already responded and sat down before he was given the chance. It wasn't fair to blame her for being a little distant. She had been through hell and back, and although he himself would never fully understand the trauma she had faced in her life, it didn't change the fact that he sympathized with her.

"Listen you two I have an assignment for you. We have confirmation that an organization in Vietnam has gotten a hold of sample…" he glanced down at the folder in front of him "T-74A/QB apparently it's an offspring of the T-virus that you are quite familiar with Jill." Nick watched the man look at Jill a moment and he made a note to ask her about it later. "I have a chopper ready to take the two of you to Vietnam where you will be in charge of stopping and eliminating this threat to global security. Is that clear?"

"Yes Sir" He responded. He wanted to head off as soon as possible. It had been a while since they had last gone on a mission at all, let alone one like this. And he had never been to Asia at all. Maybe after they had eliminated the threat the two of them could do a little sightseeing.

He heard Reese mention something about Chris Redfield, to Jill but he had stopped paying full attention once his assignment was given to him. It wasn't in his nature to worry too much about what other people were thinking, but if Jill became too much of a problem with her worries he would bring it up in casual conversation. Instead she simply asked when they were going to be leaving, and upon the answer – tomorrow at 0700. Be at the office no later than 0615 – he was up and headed out the door behind Jill.

Latching the wooden frame he turned his attention to her again, and couldn't help but wonder what it was that was bothering her so much. Was she getting tired of the job? It wasn't unheard of, and it certainly wouldn't surprise him. There were times when he himself found it hard to continue on with a mission that was becoming more work than it should have been.

"You think this will be as easy as it sounded?" He heard her ask from a few feet ahead of him

_Speaking of missions that become more work than they should be…_

"Fuck no. It never is. It's going to be a crap shoot and we both know it. You know the golden rule Jill. The easier the mission sounds, the more likely we're about to get fucked." He knew the response was a little on the harsh end, but Jill's smile told him that in some way she agreed with him.

Every agent for the BSAA knew what happened when a mission – especially one involving bio-weapons – sounded easy. It ended up being the worst day of your fucking life. And this mission sounded _way_ too easy to be any good at all. It wasn't that he didn't enjoy a challenge; just it would be nice to actually have a relaxed mission once in a while.

Nick had only partially heard Jill suggest they get something to eat, but at the mere mention of food, his brain had gone right to the small deli downtown. They had a couple of booths, a nice atmosphere, and the best damned reubens you could ask for. Jill hated reubens, which he found funny. He was often using them as a way to mess with the blonde he called a partner. As he caught up to her he opened his mouth to speak and was suddenly cut off by Jill.

He watched her put a hand up, and he raised an eyebrow in response.

"I told you, I don't like them" She sounded very matter-of-fact.

He made a mock annoyed face, by scrunching up his features, as if he had smelled something awful, but he locked his eyes with her, intensely. . "Come on Jilly! You've never had _these_ reubens."

"Not going to happen today Park, now let's get moving before they close."

"But they're a twenty four hour diner…." He made the comment sound superior on purpose. He knew she hated that more than anything else in the world and no matter how serious he tried to look he couldn't contain his laughter at the horrible look on her face.

He loved to irritate her; it was how their relationship worked. He ragged on her, and she put him in his place. He knew when not to push something, and so her payment for having such an understanding partner, was also having one who couldn't let the chance to torment her pass by. He had never said anything that would hurt her, or really upset her. He just liked to annoy her from time to time.

The two made their way down to the parking garage in silence, and climbed into the '06 Aspen crossover and slid his assault rifle into the back seat. It wasn't like he was going to need it at the deli. The trip there was as silent as the walk to the car. Some people would have felt uncomfortable by it, but Nick enjoyed it in a way. He didn't always need to be talking to enjoy someone's company. Sometimes _not_ saying anything could have just as much an impact as _saying_ something. Besides, to him it was good practice.

There were times on a mission where they wouldn't be able to speak, and they would need to read each other's body language and subtle signs to understand what was going on, or how to move. Even though this wasn't one of those times, he made a note to keep his eyes on her movements, and as they pulled into the parking lot of the small deli he was surprised to see how many cars were parked there. A silver, beat up SUV in particular had caught his attention.

It was parked in the rear of the lot, and they had passed it as they pulled in. The thing was a piece of shit, not unlike most of the cars that you would see in down town New York. But something about it made him feel uneasy. The windows were tinted, and he couldn't see if there was anyone inside, and that thought alone made him keep his eyes on the vehicle as they passed it.

"They look busier than normal" He pulled his attention away from the car and turned it to his partner, as he heard her observation.

"Maybe there's a special on reubens" He couldn't help himself. He felt the grin come over his cheeks, as Jill just rolled her eyes and walked inside.

"Perhaps, but I'm still not getting one." She was the one grinning now, and Parker could do nothing more than shrug and slide into one of the few open booths near the back of the deli.

He found himself lifting the laminated menu off the Formica table top, even though he already knew what he wanted. Hell he already knew what _Jill_ wanted. They weren't allowed to be creatures of habit. It was bad for business. If they pissed off the wrong group for example, it was deadly to get caught in a routine. Jog the same path every day and you opened yourself to get jumped on your run. Eat at the same place every time you go out to eat and someone could easily poison your meal.

To him it was just paranoia, but he had seen friends of his suffer for those reasons. So when it came down to it he never allowed himself a routine. Except what he ordered at restaurants. There were certain freedoms he was prepared to let the BSAA take from him, but what he ordered when he went out to eat was _not_ one of those things.

He glanced up at Jill to find out if she really was getting what he figured she was getting and found that she was looking down at her cell phone. It wasn't a surprise really. He even knew who she was thinking about calling. She always got the same faraway look on her face when she thought about Chris Redfield. The two had been partners for a really long time, had been through hell together, and it was clear that the two had a bond.

He had never been able to figure out why it was the two were no longer partners, but he honestly didn't care. He liked Jill as a partner, and whatever had happened between her and Redfield to keep them apart then lucky for him. She was smooth under pressure and quick on her feet. He also knew, without a doubt in his mind that she had his back if he needed her too.

"You callin' Redfield? Tell him I said 'Hi' in all serious I know what you want. BLT right? I'll order for you, go call him. You've been thinking about calling him for weeks now." The words were out of his mouth before he could stop them.

He certainly hadn't expected the reaction he got from her. The look on her face bordered on ferocity, and he was a little shocked at how flushed her cheeks got. He cursed himself silently as he ran a hand through his hair. Leaning his head back against the padded booth he closed his eyes and grunted.

_Great job asshat. Now she's probably pissed._

He opened his eyes and stared for a moment at the buzzing fluorescents of the deli's dining room. He would need to say sorry when she came back in. She didn't like being called out on her feelings for Chris. Nick himself had only met Redfield once, but he was aware even back then that the two had something going on. Whether they knew it or not was a huge question. Whatever it was Jill didn't seem to enjoy being asked about it and normally her jokester of a partner respected that.

"Can I get you something sir?"

Nick blinked and lifted his head to look at the waitress who was standing at the edge of his table. She was a decent looking girl, probably in her late teens, and her smile was pleasant enough. He found himself smiling back and placed his order. He had made sure to get Jill a diet soda; she never did like the regular kind. As the waitress – who was named Chrissy – walked off he turned his attention around the small deli.

There were a couple of booths tucked into the U shaped sandwich shop, and a half a dozen stools lining the main counter. The place was designed to give quick service. It was the type of place that worked best when getting people in and out as fast as possible, while still making quality food. He figured that was why he liked it so much. Reminded him of the places he would go with his grandfather when he was younger.

Chrissy came back with the two sodas and placed them onto the table top with another smile. Without hesitation he lifted the glass and put the straw into his mouth. With a quick sip he shifted his eyes to see what was taking Jill so long. What he saw caused him to throw himself out of his booth and grab for his pistol.

_Fuck…._

She was looking at him, with a surprisingly upset look in her eyes, and she was totally unaware of the man who was stalking toward her with the burlap bag in his hands. He cursed himself again for not having brought his handgun. He didn't need it; instead he bolted to the glass door of the deli and threw it open. The bell over the top of it sang out the familiar tune of the door, as he burst out into the summer sun.

By the time he had gotten outside, Jill was aiming her Px4 around at the parking area. The man was gone, and Parker felt the knot in his stomach loosen a bit. The things that happened in New York in the middle of the afternoon. Why would someone want to kidnap a BSAA agent?

_I mean she's still in uniform for Christ sake._

He wiped his forehead and slowed his pace toward her, coming to a stop a few feet away from her. Her back was still toward him, and she continued scanning for any sign of her attacker.

"Jill, are you alright? Christ that guy tried to grab-"

_What. The. Fuck._

He was suddenly submerged in darkness, and violently thrown to the grass. He landed hard on his shoulder, nothing serious, but damn did it hurt. He heard her yell his name over the sound of the struggle he was under, and as he was about to kick his attacker off him he heard two shots ring out in the summer afternoon.

There was a sharp pain in the side of his head, and for a moment he thought she had hit him. As the seconds ticked on, and he felt his limbs getting numb, he began to realize that his attacker had clocked him hard in the side of the head. It was taking a lot of concentration to focus on the sounds around him. He could tell his attacker had been hit by one of Jill's bullets, but the fact that there was only two shots fired, and he was still being wrestled with, didn't bode well for Jill. He felt another blow to his head, with a grunt, and his vision waivered. Unless he wanted a cracked cranium he had better figure out something fast.

The pounding in his head was becoming too much. He couldn't keep his bearings, and even as he felt his body lifted off the ground by what felt like two men, he tried to keep fighting. As he hit the van's metal floor, landing on his shoulder for a second time, he decided that his only choice was to wait until they arrived at their destination. He could hear Jill's gentle breathing nearby.

_At least they didn't kill her…_

As he felt the van speed off he began having a hard time keeping his mind from getting cloudy. He was becoming increasingly aware that in a moment or two he would slip into unconsciousness. And for as much as the thought worried him he knew that their disappearance wouldn't go unnoticed. He knew in the deep corners of his mind that help would come for them as soon as it could. But whether or not they would be alive to get it was the only question burning in his mind as he finally slipped into sleep.

**August 15, 2013**

**4:17 PM GMT**

**Claire Redfield:**

Claire tried not to show how much she missed her brother as she watched him fiddle with her broken air conditioner. He had been in town for her birthday, and had only been there for a couple of days. Her apartment wasn't really large enough for the two to share without slamming into each other at every turn, so had been staying in a nearby motel. She had promised herself she wouldn't call him over for something stupid, and she would patiently wait for him to stop by on his own. But before she had realized what she was doing, she had already called him up and told him about the broken appliance.

On the phone he had almost laughed at her, but he had just simply come over and went right to work fixing it. He had always taken care of her, their parents had both died before Chris had finished college, and the two had been together since. Though she was only six years younger than her brother, she always felt much more of a child around him somehow. She didn't know why, after all she had survived a zombie infested raccoon city, without him. He had come to her rescue when Umbrella had her captive on Rockfort Island, but then again, he was her _older_ brother.

"Hand me that screwdriver" Claire blinked the thought away at the sudden sound of Chris' voice from under the air conditioner. "Once I get this screw in you should be all set"

She wanted to say something to him, anything as he held out his open hand waiting for the tool. But instead she simply pressed the plastic handle into the palm of his hand and frowned a bit as he pulled it into the abyss with him. She kept her eyes on him as he worked in his own silence, ignoring the dirt that had fallen all around him. His jeans were a mess, and his plain white t-shirt had become smeared with dust and sweat.

Claire stepped back away from him as he pulled himself to his feet and leveled his eyes at her. She felt uncomfortable with his harsh stare. It was like he was sizing her up somehow.

"All right, why not tell me why you really called me over here. I know you're capable of fixing a broken air conditioner." She scowled and let out a scoff as he crossed his arms over his chest. For a moment she was surprised he actually _could_ cross his arms over his chest, although she opted not to make that a public thought.

"Nothing is wrong. It's just ever since ra-" She stopped talking. The raccoon city incident wasn't something that any of them liked to speak about. It had been the starting point to everything that had happened in their lives up to this point. Everything from his career with the BSAA to her work with the human rights organization TerraSave. She had joined TerraSave as a way to fight the release of bio-weapons, without having to be face deep in the muck she had already waded through three times before. She shuffled her flip flop across the carpet, and uncomfortably avoided his gaze. He was making her feel like she was being interrogated. "You've been so busy, is it so wrong for me to want to spend time with my brother?"

The last part came out a little snippier then she would have liked it too, but Chris hadn't seemed to notice. Instead he softened his look, and for a moment she thought she could see a twinge of sadness in his brown eyes. He spoke to her in a soft tone, one that he had used many times in the past when she was feeling particularly upset about something. She had heard him, but as he wrapped his arms around her, she had blocked out everything else around her. She felt safe with him, and ever since that September in 1998, she had never really felt safe.

She didn't want him to go, she wanted him to stay with her and for the two of them to vanish and just live out their lives without always looking over their shoulders. But that would never happen. Not now. Not with everything that had happened to them so far.

"I know… It's just…." She said after a moment. He had promised her he would be there no matter what happened, and she knew it deep down; but somehow she always felt guilty asking for him. His phone rang, and in a moment she had pushed out of his grip and backed toward the kitchen. "You should get that. It could be Sheva"

She tried not to let it show how upset she was with him. Or how much she had wished he had turned off his cell phone. And as he gave her the sympathetic look, she was already shrugging and heading into the kitchen. She didn't want to be mad at him, didn't want him to have to put his life and job on hold for his baby sister. But at the same time it didn't seem fair that after everything they had gone through, they still couldn't have time to be themselves.

She leaned against the counter, next to the sink, and her eyes flittered to a stain in the shape of a ring, left over from her morning coffee. She traced her fingers along the sticky surface with an absent look and took in a breath as she heard her brother's deep voice muffling into the room. The apartment wasn't large, but sound didn't carry well and she couldn't make out exactly what he was saying. Though she could tell that it wasn't very much.

His footsteps echoed off the hardwood floor, heading toward the kitchen, and for just a moment Claire's body tensed, and her heart raced. _It's just Chris. Relax_. She turned anyway, faster than she should have, and found him standing in the doorway.

"Listen Claire…"

She halted his words, as she held up a hand. She knew what he was going to say, and she knew she didn't need to hear him say it. She had to remember it was just as hard on him as it was on her, even if he hid it better. She put on a smile, and did her best not to look upset.

"It was good to see you Chris. Just be careful okay?"

He frowned and nodded, as he turned to the door and she followed him for a moment. Her eyes trained on his back. As he hesitated with his hand on the knob though she raised an eyebrow, and felt a wave of nerves flow over her. As he turned to face her with one hand on the knob, and the other stuffed into the pocket of his jeans, she became aware of the exhaustion on his face.

"Once this is over, we are going to take some time away from all of this, Jill and Leon too. We all need a break."

This time she really smiled. It had been so long since she had seen Jill, and although she had talked to Leon a lot since their time in Raccoon City, she hadn't had the pleasure of seeing him under such plain circumstances. It was a good, if not unrealistic, thought. She could picture it now, the four of them enjoying mixed drinks on some beach in the Caribbean. That was the first thought that came to her mind, but she pushed it aside to look at her brother.

"That sounds nice Chris. Just focus on this mission, and we can figure the rest out later."

He gave her a quick nod, and turned away from her closing the door behind him. She let her head hang as she heard the latch catch, and she fought to hold back her emotions. Something pulled at her chest, and she couldn't tell if it was anxiety over the fact that she would miss him, or if it was a feeling of impending doom. Whatever it was, she needed to ignore it and get on with her day.

_What I really need is a hot bath_ she thought to herself as she finally tore her eyes away from the apartment door, and directed them to the tiny bathroom. She didn't have a tub; there was no room for one. Instead she had just a sink and toilet, with a stand up shower. It worked fine for showering, but every once in a while a girl just wanted to take a bath. She especially loved the kind of bath that had bubbles and scented candles.

She would have to make do with what she had, and as she sighed and gathered her things together she found herself wishing that she had taken that apartment in Old Town because at least _that_ had a bathtub. She pulled the hair tie out of her locks and let the flow of brown cascade around her shoulders. With a quick shake of her head to release the strands from their previous captivity she turned on the water to get it up to temperature.

As she began to pull off her shirt she paused, hearing what sounded like a knock on her door. She dropped the fabric back down over her slender waist and poked her head out of the room to listen. Sure enough, someone was knocking at her door. It had to be Chris, he was always forgetting something. She didn't bother to turn off the water as she jogged across the room to the door.

"Just a second!" She yelled out as she turned the knob and jerked the door open wide. "So what did you forget this time…?" Her voice trailed off as her eyes locked on to the person standing in the door way. It wasn't Chris.

In fact she had never seen this man before in her life. Without a moment's hesitation Claire looped the ball of her foot around the bottom of the door and kicked it as hard as she could, trying to slam it closed before the person could enter. But he was too fast. His hand shot out like a bullet, stopping the wooden slab and holding it in place just a few inches from latching. She spun and kicked the door again, but to her disappointment her foot landed a solid blow with no success.

She thought about yelling for Chris, but there was no way he would hear her. He had to have made it to his car by now and was probably just pulling out of the parking area. Claire cursed to herself as she scrambled backwards away from the man who was now stalking into her apartment. She needed to find a weapon, or at the very least something she could use as a weapon. Her eyes scanned the room frantically as she could hear the man getting closer. _Shit, shit…_ Her mind raced, and she spotted the cell phone sitting on the end table of her living room. Chris was the last person she had called, all she needed to do was hit the dial button twice and it would call him.

She dove for the phone, and the man dove after her. It felt like being hunted as she clawed at the couch to get to her feet. Luckily he wasn't as agile as she was, and he had missed her. She jammed her finger against the call button twice and saw Chris' picture pop up, followed by the word 'calling'. A part of her mind relaxed as she sprinted toward the open apartment door, she was almost home free, just a few more feet and she could get some-

_WHAM_

She never saw it coming. The second man's forearm clocked into her face like a baseball bat and she fell backwards onto her living room floor. Her cell phone slid out of her hand with the force of the fall and she saw it disappear under the couch. Her face hurt, and for a moment she was too stunned to really do much of anything except roll onto her stomach with a groan. She knew she needed to run, but her body was in too much pain to do anything more than curl up on the floor. _Get up Claire! Get up and run!_ But it was too late. She could feel her body being lifted off the ground and slung over one massive shoulder.

"You almost let her get away… You're lucky I was here to cover your sorry ass." She could hear them talking, but couldn't seem to bring herself to do anything about it. She felt woozy, like the blow to the head was going to make her pass out. But she struggled to keep conscious.

"Fuck you. How would I know that the _sister_ would be the hard one to handle?"

_Sister?_

Claire cursed to herself, as she began to lose her battle with her instincts. They must have been talking about Chris. Who were these people and where had they come from? Why were they taking her and her brother, and what was going to happen to them? So many questions swam in her mind as she began to fade in and out of reality.

"Dr. Girard said they must be alive. Radio Mendez and tell him we have the girl, remind him not to kill the brother."

That was the last thing she could remember, as her mind finally won the battle, and she slipped off into her subconscious.

**August 16, 2013**

**6:08 AM GMT**

**Leon Kennedy**

Leon shifted subconsciously in the bed as he slept. He was normally a heavy sleeper, being a special agent he learned to fall asleep fast, and deeply. Sometimes they only got an hour or so to rest before they would need to be on the move again.

Right now he was stretched out on a nice bed, wearing nothing more than a pair of sweatpants, and covered in a light sheet. It was the first time in a long time that he was able to get a real nights rest, and part of him felt a little sad at the fact that it wasn't even in his own bed. Then again, he had slept in the bed so often it was pretty close to it.

He was at his partner Eliza Cole's house. She lived much closer to the military base they worked out of, and he found it easier on late nights to stop over there, then to go home. He had arrived at her home at close to three in the morning, and climbed quickly into the bed, in the spare bedroom he had claimed for his own. This was where he slept now, his body stretched out under the sheet.

If he had been dreaming, he didn't recall. Anything that might have been happening in his mind as he slept had been lost at the sudden sound of screaming, coming from down the hall.

_El is screaming… You have to go help her she could be in trouble…. You have to stop whatever is hurting her… You have to… WAKE UP…._

He sat upright in the bed and his eyes took a moment to adjust to the darkness of the room. Leon blinked a couple of times listening, trying to figure out if he had actually heard a scream or if he had woken himself up from a bad dream. As the high pitched sound, once again rang out in the hallway, outside his room he wasted no time jumping up and grabbing his Matilda off the bureau.

It was a VP70M capable of firing a three round burst. He had the handgun for as long as he could remember, though the stock required for the burst was not currently attached. He didn't care, he wouldn't need it.

As he took the turn out of his bed room and down the hall he ran through the protocol for an attack on a special agent.

_Assess the situation, declare yourself as a special agent, demand compliance, eliminate the target if they fail to comply…_

He kicked Eliza's door open and quickly swept the room with the Matilda leveled, searching for any signs of trouble. The room was as dark as the hallway, and his eyes were still adjusting to the low light levels. The sound of breaking glass made him swing his gun down toward the bed, where he found himself facing his own partners Beretta.

Eliza stared at him, with a strange intensity in her green eyes. She locked on him like a hawk, and it unsettled him slightly. He had seen that look in her eyes a couple times before, and for just a moment he worried he would need to disarm her physically.

"El? Drop the gun." He said to the empty shell of his partner. He made a point to sound firm, but gentle at the same time. Her delicate state right now could trigger a serious issue if he threatened her and she decided to take a shot. Eliza didn't miss. She had been a sniper in the military, and she was a crack shot at close range with her pistol. "Eliza…. Put it down…."

He stood there a moment, watching her trying to decide what he should do. He wasn't confident he would make it across the room before she fired. Her eyes softened and he thankfully didn't need to worry about it, as she slowly dropped the gun into her lap. He moved swift and fluid over to the bed, and snatched up the Beretta before she could change her mind, and placed it on her night stand.

"El? Are you alright? What happened?"

She shook her head at him, and he simply sat down on the edge of the bed, waiting for her to figure out what was happening. As partners went, Leon couldn't complain about his. She was strong willed, and brave. He had never seen her waiver in the heat of the moment, and she was always ready to cover him if he needed it. It was when they weren't in the field that he worried about her.

She had survived the viral outbreak at Raccoon City when she was so young, and Leon wasn't surprised that sometimes she had moments of post-traumatic stress. He knew that was what he was looking at now with her, the cloudiness in her eyes gave it away. As far as Leon could tell, Eliza was there physically, but mentally she was somewhere else entirely.

He had never heard the full story of what happened from her. She never tried to hide any of it from him, but there were parts she was missing. Parts she couldn't remember. Like how her father got into the city from the chemical plant, or what happened to release it so fast.

Leon shifted his eyes toward his partner and waited. The more he thought about Raccoon, and Umbrella the more angry he got. Those bastards killed thousands of people and then had the audacity to blame the survivors for ruining their reputation. It sickened him to think that they almost got away with it too. If it wasn't for Claire, and Eliza, and Sherry, and Ada….

_Ada…_

"I'm fine, I just had a nightmare"

Leon scoffed and looked at her, and immediately felt bad for it. He didn't mean to sound so superior, but the thought of Ada had pulled him away from the current situation for a moment, and he had reacted to that. But as he watched her now, seeing the way she hung her head, as if she was embarrassed by something, he felt like a complete ass. Eliza was sensitive about her memories of Raccoon, and his ability to understand and adjust to it helped make them as close as they were.

He frowned slightly and reached a hand over to slide one of her cabernet curls out of her face. He was an only child, but from the moment he had met Eliza he felt a connection with her. More of a connection then he felt with Claire or Sherry, and a different connection then the one he had felt with Ada. There was something different about her. He had only met her once or twice before requesting a partner exchange. He knew from the moment he met Eliza, that he needed to look out for her, he needed to protect her somehow. What he didn't understand was why the feeling was so strong. After a couple years of working with her he had decided to stop trying to figure it out. He felt a respect, and a sort of love for her. One that was different from the feelings he felt for some of the other people in his life.

He let out a soft sigh and closed his eyes. He wasn't sure if he should tell her that he thought about it too, or if he should lie and say that things just got easier if you pretended it was all a nightmare. But for as much as he thought about it, he knew he couldn't lie to her. She deserved to know the truth.

"I still think about it too." He said after a few moments.

The look of mild shock on her features, almost made him scoff again. Did she think he was some sort of robot that didn't have emotions?

_She's probably surprised you actually told her about it. Now stop being an ass Kennedy and help her clean up the broken glass…_

He knew this was the right answer, but he ignored his own mind as he found himself suddenly very tired. He glanced at her for just a moment as she placed her hand on his shoulder, the warmth of it spreading across his bare skin, but just as quickly she was ducking around the other side of the bed.

He assumed that it was to pick up the broken glass on the floor. He closed his eyes a moment before heading out of the room to grab her, the dustpan and brush out of the closet in the hallway. He pulled the wooden door open and gently picked up the little grey pan and headed back into the bedroom. She was quiet, gently picking up the large pieces and placing them in the bucket. He found himself watching her a moment before lowering the pan down toward her.

She smiled up at him and took it with a thank you, before he nodded, turned and left the room again with a yawn. He wanted to go back to sleep, but he knew that at this point it would be useless. It was around six in the morning, and even though he had only gotten three hours of sleep, he would need to wake up again soon anyway. So instead he opted to just get in the shower and get on with his day.

He made his way into the bathroom, and quickly turned on the water, and stripped down. He climbed inside and was comforted by the hot stream that pounded against his chest. He stood there for a moment, not doing anything more than letting the water hit his skin. Three hours of sleep wasn't anything he couldn't handle. He had worked on far less then that before, and this wouldn't be a problem, but it didn't mean he needed to like it.

He heard what sounded like his name, muffled by the water pounding down around him and he paused, trying to concentrate on the sound outside the room.

"Eliza?" He tried to sound loud enough for her to hear him over the shower.

He heard the door open a bit and could finally hear Eliza more clearly.

"I'm going to get coffee." Her voice was louder now, and much more distinct.

He grinned and pulled back the shower curtain enough to poke his head out. Water dripped down his dirty blonde hair and pooled on the tile floor of the bathroom as he looked at Eliza standing in the doorway. She didn't seem bothered by the fact that he was in the shower, and he had to hold in a grin.

"Can you get me a large? Black" He asked her, and watched her nod and head out of the room, closing the door behind her.

He found the motivation to actually get on with his shower, and he quickly ran through the process. He was probably only in there for a few moments, but the heat from the water, had relaxed his mind and woke him up a bit. His fingers lingered for a moment over a scar on his left shoulder. He was shot during the Raccoon incident pushing Ada out of the way, it had long since healed, but the memory of it lingered in his mind.

He pushed the thought aside and turned off the water. At least he didn't have anything pressing to do today; he could most likely take a nap later in the afternoon, and recover some of the sleep he had lost during his morning scare. Wrapping a towel around his waist, he deposited his sweatpants into the hamper in the corner and headed toward his room.

As he made his way down the hall he heard the kitchen door open and close rather loudly, and his curiosity pushed him to glance into the kitchen. He saw Eliza standing there, in her black capris and a purple shirt. The sleeves were three quarters length and she was wearing a pair of matching purple flats. He raised an eyebrow at her as she looked at him, and motioned to the window.

"My car won't start." She said in an exasperated tone.

He looked at the window, even though he couldn't see the car from his angle.

"I'll take a look at it this afternoon"

He wasn't much of a mechanic, but he was handy enough to be able to fix a simple problem the car might be having. If it was anything serious she would have to bring the car to a garage to get it fixed. But for what it was worth he would take a look anyway. Leon didn't wait for her to leave again before heading into his room to change.

It was already getting hot, and since it wasn't even seven in the morning, that didn't bode well for the day ahead. He pulled open one of the drawers and quickly snatched up a pair of jeans and a plain blue t-shirt. He wasn't a particularly fancy dresser, but when the occasion warranted he could rock a suit and tie. This however was _not_ one of those occasions.

_Thank God for that…. I'd melt in a suit in this heat…_

He pulled his clothes on and headed into the living room to wait for Eliza. She hadn't been gone too long and he figured a half hour would be the longest he would have to wait for her. He flipped the television on to some show about emergency rooms and let his body relax on the couch. Closing his eyes he became aware again at how tired he really was. He figured a quick nap wouldn't hurt and so he allowed his mind to drift, wandering into an odd twilight between awake and asleep.

_Brrrr brrrrr brrrrr_

He opened his eyes and blinked at the sound that floated toward him from the coffee table where his cell phone had been laying. He grunted as he sat forward and looked at the screen, and when he saw Eliza's name flash by he raised an eyebrow and answered the call.

"Are they out of coffee?" He said sarcastically

What he heard on the other end made his heart stop.

"You can have my wallet, I will drop it on the ground. Just lower the gun and I'll let you have whatever you want." Eliza's words were muffled slightly, but he knew what she was saying.

His mouth ran dry as the next few moments ticked by, he could do nothing more than stand in the middle of the living room, with his cell phone pressed to his ear, listening to his partner struggle with someone. She was shouting out different things, but he couldn't really understand what she was saying. He could hear her screams fading into distance, as she was clearly dragged farther away from the phone.

He dropped the cell and ran for the back door. He knew what coffee shop she would have gone too, it was her favorite one and at least he would know where to begin. Taking a detour to grab his Matilda out of her room he snatched her car keys off the kitchen counter and flew out to the driveway almost diving into her Corolla.

Leon slammed the key into the ignition and turned it.

"Shit…" The car sputtered but refused to start.

_That's why the jeep is missing. Way to go genius…._

He shut up his mind, and pushed open the car door-

"Hold it right there"

-and froze, half out of the vehicle, and half in, and face to face with a 9mm handgun. He shifted his eyes up the barrel and looked at the masked man standing in front of him. For a moment Leon figured he could take the guy out, disarm him and force him to explain what happened to Eliza, but as his eyes twitched to movement to his left he realized there was another guy, stepping around from the back of the car.

"Listen…" Leon began. "I'm a special agent working for the gov-"

"We know who you are Kennedy. And if you ever want to see Special Agent Cole again, you won't be giving us any trouble. Our associates have orders to kill her if you do anything stupid, so it's in your partners best interested, to do as we say"

He scowled, but didn't have it in him to take the chance. Two gunmen trained on him, and Eliza's life hanging in the middle. He needed to believe that they were telling the truth, he couldn't take the risk of getting her killed.

"So what do you want…?" He words came out strained, as he fought with himself to keep his voice as calm as possible.

"You're going to put this bag over your head, and you're going to step out of the car with your hands where we can see them." The man tossed a simple, yet thick looking pillow case into Leon's lap and waved his gun at him. "We don't want your partner, we want you. So as long as you cooperate we have no reason to keep her."

Leon kept his eyes on his attacker for a moment before putting the bag onto his own head. He knew they were lying. If they had only wanted him they would have just attacked when she left, there was no need to involve her at all. He put his open hands out of the car and finished stepping onto the pavement of the driveway.

He wasn't out of the car five seconds before he felt something prick his neck. Some sort of an injection, something to make him easier to handle.

"You won't get…" His mouth felt thick. "away… the govern…men.." He couldn't form the words.

He felt his body begin to weaken, and he was distantly aware of arms holding him up and dragging him along the driveway. He struggled to keep his mind on the problem at hand, but as the sedative coursed through his system he found it more and more difficult to do so. There were long seconds of blackness, followed by sharp moments of clarity. But eventually he gave in, closing his eyes and letting the drugs block everything out.

**August 15, 2013**

**1:26 PM GMT**

**Jill Valentine:**

"It's not that complicated to understand. Just take the files down to the lower office and hand them out to the people listed on the folders. Do I need to come down there and _show_ you how to do your job?"

Jill Valentine shifted awkwardly as she waited outside the director of the BSAA, North America branch's office. She slid her eyes and glanced through the partially open door to see the man sitting behind a large oak desk, talking rather loudly into the receiver of his cell phone. She wasn't sure who he was talking too but she assumed it was one of his assistants, who clearly had a difficult time understanding his job. She sighed and turned her attention to her partner, who was sitting in one of the waiting room chairs. His boots were propped up on the coffee table in front of him, and there was a medical magazine smashed under his feet.

She hadn't been working with Nick Parker for very long, but he had proven to be a big help to her in the few missions that they had taken together. Most BSAA field agents worked either alone, or in squads. It wasn't often they were assigned partners. She assumed the only reason they were pairing people up recently was due to the increase in bio weapon sales overseas on the black market. Since Umbrella's downfall, many of their viral experiments had been released and sold for millions of dollars to terrorist groups trying to dominate the globe in a large scale world war. Tension was high in all the power countries in the world, and it was all the BSAA could do to keep things from exploding into total chaos.

She remembered all the work she had done with Chris in the past and for a brief moment she wondered how he was holding up on his end. She made a mental note to call him later that afternoon to see how things were going. It had been a few months since the last time she spoke to him, and she missed him. He had been her partner and close friend since the Raccoon city incident, almost fifteen years ago. She heard Parker sigh, and turned her attention toward him again; the thoughts of Chris vanishing from her mind.

"Something bothering you Parker?" She tipped her head to the side as she spoke, and gave the man a soft smile.

Parker was a larger then normal guy. She wouldn't call him over weight exactly, but he was a little heavier set then most of the agents here. She was used to Chris' large muscle mass, and so it didn't really faze her to work with such a large male counterpart. He was dressed in uniform – just as she was – camouflage pants, combat boots, with a dark grey long sleeved shirt, with a combat vest over that. Normally he was covered in a variety of explosive devices and heavy weapons, but today for his trip to the Director, he opted to only bring along his standard issue SIG 556 assault rifle, which was strapped to his back.

He glanced up at her, with chocolate colored hues, and gave her a grin.

"Yeah, just hate being called for a meeting, told to be here on the dot, just to be kept waiting while the boss chats on the phone." He ran a gloved hand through his light brown hair and leaned his head back against the wall behind him.

She had to admit she agreed with him. It was rather annoying to arrive on time like you were told too, and then be kept waiting, as if you had nothing better to be doing with your time. Before she could vocalize this to him, however, the office door swung fully open and the Director motioned them to enter. He was scowling, and Jill couldn't tell if it was due to the fact that he was still upset about the phone call, or if there was something else going on that she wasn't going to like.

_Let's be real Jill, you know it's the latter._

She couldn't keep the thought away as she stepped over the threshold and into the round office. It was beautifully decorated with a high ceiling, and windows that spanned the height of the wall. In the center of the room was the same oak desk she had stood in front of many times before, only this time there were two high backed, padded chairs in front of it. They were made of the same oak as the desk, and the blue velvet cushions reminded her of something you would see in a Victorian mansion. She gave an involuntary shudder at the thought of it. The last Victorian mansion she had been in was the Spencer Estate, where the Raccoon incident had first started, and that place had tried to kill her. The mansion _itself_ had even tried. She was nearly crushed to death by a ceiling.

"You plan on joining us at some point Miss Valentine?"

Jill blinked and the visions of the Spencer Estate vanished from her mind.

"Sorry Director Reese." Without another word she took her seat, and ignored a look from Parker.

"Listen, you two I have an assignment for you. We have confirmation that an organization in Vietnam has gotten a hold of sample…" he glanced down at the folder in front of him "T-74A/QB apparently it's an offspring of the T-virus that you are quite familiar with Jill." He looked at her a moment before closing the file and continuing to speak. "I have a chopper ready to take the two of you to Vietnam where you will be in charge of stopping and eliminating this threat to global security. Is that clear?"

"Yes sir" Nick's voice rang out in the otherwise quiet office. He wasn't one to argue orders, and this one didn't seem so out of the ordinary. In fact it seemed pretty by the book as far as Jill was concerned. But something bothered her a little, if the virus was an offspring of the T-virus that she had encountered before with Chris, then shouldn't he be going in with her?

"And before you ask, he's already been given an assignment. He's been asked to look into something in Russia." Jill looked at Director Reese with a raised eyebrow, as if he had read her mind.

"When do we leave?" She asked.

"First thing in the morning, the chopper will be waiting to pick you up at 0700. I want the two of you here in this office no later than 0615 so you can be briefed once again before you leave. Now if there are no further questions the two of you should go and prepare." With that he gave them a short wave of the hand and spun his chair around as he dialed a number on his cell.

Jill stretched and looked at Parker as the two of them left the office. She could hear Reese, talking to someone about paper work, as Parker closed the door, but she didn't bother to pay too much attention to it. All she wondered about now was what sort of preparations she would need for tomorrow's assignment. Parker didn't seem to look too bothered by the whole thing, as he walked along calmly. He didn't seem to really ever be too bothered by things, at least not as far as Jill had noticed.

"You think this will be as easy as it sounded?" She asked him as she slid her hands into the pockets of her pants.

"Fuck no. It never is. It's going to be a crap shoot and we both know it. You know the golden rule Jill. The easier the mission sounds, the more likely we're about to get fucked."

She couldn't help but smile at his confidence. He was right after all. She had seen it happen so many times it wasn't even funny. When she was with Chris in S.T.A.R.S. they had a mission to go and repair a downed helicopter, and that's how the incident at the Spencer Estate happened. Not to mention how she had headed to Chris' apartment only a few months after to warn him about the viral outbreak, only to find herself trapped in Raccoon City during the zombie apocalypse. Or when Chris and she had gone to the Spencer Mansion to get some information, only to find their old captain Albert Wesker there, who tried everything possible to kill them. She pulled the brim of her baseball cap down a little lower on her face and held in a sigh. She really needed to stop thinking about those days. They didn't help matters, and honestly the more she thought about them, the more nightmares she had.

She changed her thoughts to the current mission. She needed to focus, if not for her own sake, then at least for Parkers. He didn't deserve to die because she couldn't focus during a mission. There were enough dead BSAA agents because of Umbrella. She wouldn't allow there to be any more on her watch.

"Let's go grab some lunch and figure out gear. I know you like that small deli down town." She gave Parker a smile and headed off without waiting for a reply.

The man never passed up the chance to hit one of the delis in New York City. In fact every time they were called into the NYC branch, since being assigned together, he had insisted they eat at a particular one. Claimed he once knew the owner and they had the best reuben you would ever have. Too bad Jill didn't like reubens, though she had promised him to try one someday. Today however was not the day.

She heard him happily following behind her and she gave a glance over her shoulder to meet his enthusiastic gaze. He was getting ready to say something to her as he got closer, but she held up her hand to stop him.

"I told you, I don't like them" She said

Parker scowled and wrinkled up his nose. "Come on Jilly! You've never had _these_ reubens."

She shook her head again. "Not going to happen today Park, now let's get moving before they close."

"But they're a twenty-four hour diner…." Parker's voice dripped with an air of superiority, and he let out a laugh as Jill shot him a dirty look.

The sarcasm was a total Parker thing, but Jill had to admit she enjoyed it, at least somewhat. He knew how to be serious, and knew when to cut the jokes and focus on the job. But he also knew how to let the job go, which was something that Chris still had a hard time doing. It was one of the reasons they couldn't work together anymore. Jill was growing tired of spending her every moment trying to destroy a company that no longer existed, but Chris…

_Chris won't stop fighting until it kills him…._

Even as the thought came to mind she knew how serious of a statement it was.

There were still people out there, important people, who lost a lot for the exposure of Umbrella, and they didn't blame the pharmaceutical company. Instead they blamed the survivors. Claiming the group of them got together and twisted the truth into a horror story about zombies, and mutated people. Things like that didn't happen in real life. Once Raccoon City had been turned into zombies, and nuked they continued to act as though it were just some big ploy by the survivors to get attention.

Jill unlocked the black BSAA Chrysler Aspen Crossover and climbed into the driver seat of the '06 SUV. She clicked her seatbelt into place and put the car into reverse, as Parker closed the door and situated himself next to her. For a while the two of them didn't speak. They didn't make small talk or say anything at all. They didn't need too; instead they simply drove along the streets of New York City in total silence. Eventually Jill spoke, as she pulled into the parking lot of the tiny deli.

"They look busier than normal" She noted as she stepped out of the vehicle and headed for the dinners glass door front.

"Maybe there's a special on reubens" Parker gave her a grin and she shook her head with a roll of the eyes.

"Perhaps, but I'm still not getting one."

He shrugged his shoulders at her and took a seat at one of the booths. He lifted the menu off the table top and looked at it, even though he had little need to do so, he already knew what he wanted, had known since the moment Jill had suggested this place to eat.

She watched him a moment, and was suddenly reminded of Chris, maybe it was the way he scrunched up his nose when he concentrated. Or perhaps it was how serious he looked. Either way she found herself pulling her hand out of her pocket with her fingers wrapped around the cell phone's exterior.

"You callin' Redfield? Tell him I said 'Hi' in all serious I know what you want. BLT right? I'll order for you, go call him. You've been thinking about calling him for weeks now."

Jill felt her cheeks flush as he made his observation. And she got up rather quickly and stormed out of the diner to call him. She mumbled to herself about how Parker was an idiot, and how he couldn't possibly know anything that she was thinking, but she knew that wasn't really true.

She hesitated a moment as she looked down at the picture of Chris, reflecting back at her from the screen of her phone. A single strand of blonde hair fell down out of her baseball hat, and she brushed it out of her sapphire hues. Something felt suddenly very wrong, and she couldn't help but glance around her as she stood by the curb of the sidewalk just outside the dinner. She stared at her old partner's picture and her hands began to sweat and tremble slightly.

She was an expert at trusting her gut, and right now it was screaming at her that something was wrong. She jammed the call button and pulled the phone to her ear.

"We're sorry, But the number you are trying to reach is currently unavailable at this time."

Jill tensed and looked at the phone in her hand.

_Unavailable?_

She hung up the call and quickly called it again. Same message. She felt her throat go dry. Chris never had his phone off, and why hadn't it gone to voice mail.

_Unless…._

Quickly Jill scrolled through her contacts until she found Chris' sister Claire. The only reason he would have his phone off was if he was with her. And it was her birthday a couple days ago so he _must_ be with her. She held the phone to her ear, and her heart sank like a lead weight.

"Claire here! Can't come to the phone but leave a message and I'll get back to you!"

_BEEP_

"Claire its Jill. I just wanted to say happy birthday! And see how you time with Chris was. You're probably at work so just give me a call when you get this. Bye!" She hung up the phone fast and pressed it to her chest, as the anxiety built. She had tried to sound as relaxed as possible in her message. If Claire really was busy she didn't want the girl to worry about Chris. Last time she went looking for her brother she had nearly gotten herself eaten by zombies. Twice.

She glanced at the window of the diner, and could see Parker in his booth, just as his drink arrived. He sipped his soda through his straw and glanced at her before suddenly jumping to his feet. He was reaching to his waist as if trying to draw a handgun that he didn't have with him. Jill didn't hesitate instead she dove and somersaulted forward, just as the burlap bag came down toward her head.

She got to her feet in one fluid motion, - a thankful trick she had learned from her time with Albert Wesker – and she spun drawing her Px4 handgun. Whoever had been behind her was no longer there, but she swept her gun back and forth as her eyes shifted across the parked cars that littered the parking area. It was times like these she wished Parker had carried a handgun instead of his assault rifle. She heard him slam open the door to the diner but she kept her eyes trained on the parking lot.

"Jill, are you alright? Christ that guy tried to grab-" Parker's words got cut off by the muffled sound of a struggle. Despite her instincts telling her not to take her eyes off the last location of her assailant she spun in time to see her partner wrestled to the ground. She couldn't believe what was happening, first Chris and Claire not answering her calls, and now this?

"NICK!" She leveled her gun and fired two shots at the men wrestling on grass that bordered the dinner. She heard a grunted yell, and the familiar squish of a bullet ripping through flesh. She hated that sound, but at least it told her she had hit one of them. Silently she had hoped it wasn't Parker. She raised the gun again and aimed.

_Darkness…._

She never had time to react to the bag that was slipped over her head. Though she wasn't going down without a fight. She struggled and kicked her legs as best she could but it was no use. She felt the pinprick in her neck and knew in a moment what had just happened. Parker was probably already unconscious, and she was quickly joining him. She felt her body and muscles turn to jelly and before she could stop it, she was limp, and hitting the ground with a thump.


	2. Chapter 2

_**Washington D.C.**_

_**August 16, 2013**_

_**8:43 am**_

"President Turelli we have a problem"

The president looked up from the pile of paper work on his desk and met eyes with one of his advisors. There was a problem every day in America and he wasn't exactly sure why this problem in particular was more important than all the other problems that needed his attention. He knew he needed to at least pretend to be interested in the man standing in front of his desk inside the oval office, and so he folded his hands on top of his paperwork and looked over the rim of his glasses.

"I have a lot of things I need to take care of. If this is about the issues in the lower offices, tell them we are working on it."

The advisor shook his head with a deep frown and Turelli got a sudden uneasy feeling in the pit of his stomach. This was more than that; he could almost see the tension surrounding the suited man.

"We got a call less than fifteen minutes ago from Director Reese of BSAA North America. Apparently three of his agents didn't show up for their assignments this morning. Two of them were supposed to report to him directly at six fifteen. The third was flying in from California, his plane landed at eight seventeen and he wasn't on it."

President Andrew Turelli frowned and leaned back in his chair. He wasn't exactly sure what to make of the situation. He had always heard of agents going rogue, or vanishing because they couldn't handle their duties before, but three of them in the same night? Something was clearly going on here, and it didn't look good.

"Who are the agents?"

"Uh…" The advisor shifted through a folder in his hands "Jillian Valentine, Nicholas Parker, and Christopher Redfield."

Now the President really felt uncomfortable, but he didn't have time to dwell on it as another advisor stepped into the room and demanded his attention.

"Sir we just got a call from the Special Task Force branch outside D.C. they're reporting two special agents missing."

Turelli frowned deeply and pulled his glasses off. He was growing almost nauseous at the thought of who could be missing now. He was almost afraid to ask but he forced the words out.

"Who are they?"

"Special Agents Cole and Kennedy"

_Leon and Eliza…._

Turelli had known both agents for a long time. Eliza Cole was a top notch soldier, and a damn good special agent. Leon was no different. He had spent years training in hand to hand combat. How could five different agents, trained in protection just suddenly go missing all in the same day? Clearly there was something much more serious going on here.

"Do we have any idea where they could have gone off too?"

The first advisor, a man by the name of Kenneth Rumford, shook his head and placed the folder down onto the desk.

"According to Director Reese, when Valentine and Parker didn't show up this morning he sent agents to their homes to find them. Nothing seemed out of place and when they finally found the SUV assigned to them it had been abandoned in the parking lot of a New York diner. Police say that patrons had reported shots being fired in the parking lot, and one witness stated she saw a man and a woman with bags on their heads get tossed into the back of a silver van. She couldn't describe the attackers."

He crossed his arms over his chest as he continued.

"Redfield was supposed to meet his own partner this morning at La Guardia, but he never got on the plane in the first place. According to security, he never even made it to the airport. They contacted BSAA agents in California, where he was visiting his sister and found his pickup truck empty in the parking area of his sister's apartment complex."

Turelli rubbed his temple.

"When they went to question the girl, they found the apartment torn up as if there had been a struggle. They believe the kidnappers may have taken her too"

The day was turning into a nightmare. He turned to the second advisor, a younger male in like early thirties named Rolland Jones and motioned with his hand for the man to explain what the Special Task Force had come up with.

"They're working on the details. Apparently Kennedy had left base at some point last night, they think he may have been taken from a coffee shop where they found his jeep. There is no evidence that Cole was involved in any struggle. Her car was found broken down in her driveway, but her home looked clear. We believe they may have both been together at the time of the incident."

The president was growing irritated, and his words came out harshly.

"So you're telling me three BSAA agents, two Special Agents, and one civilian all went missing in less than twenty four hours, and you have no useful information for me?"

The advisors exchanged glances and Rumford cleared his throat.

"With all due respect Mr. President, these people were kidnapped less than a day ago. Our investigation has just begun. This is all the information we have now but I assure you we are doing everything we can to figure out how this happened."

President Turelli closed his eyes and leaned forward, resting his elbows on his desk. He was getting a headache. Five agents missing and all of them connected to each other. He could see the significance of the entire thing. The Redfield siblings, Kennedy and Valentine, had all been directly involved with Raccoon City, along with Special Agent Cole. Parker had been involved with Umbrella in a different capacity, but there was a serious connection between the victims.

He just prayed they were all okay.

Chris Redfield slowly opened his tired eyes and was met by a harsh bright light, bouncing off white walls. He felt his eyes burn and closed them again quickly. He felt groggy, and out of sorts like he had woken up from a night of binge drinking. When he was finally able to open his eyes again, he took a better look at the room he was in. White walls, with no windows surrounded the simple bed he was laying in. There was a rolling tray off to his right, against the far wall and a couple of machines lined the wall to his left.

It took him a moment or two to realize he was in a hospital, but it wasn't one he had been in before. He tried to remember how he could have ended up here, but found his mind lacking in cooperation. He could remember that he was with his sister Claire in San Diego, and that he was fixing an air conditioner in her apartment, everything after that was blank.

He became increasingly aware that one of the machines was beeping, and as he sat up to examine it he found himself stuck with different wires. They were attached to his chest, with round sticky pads and their wires were connected to the beeping machine. Chris squinted his tired eyes and looked at the monitor and found himself staring at an EKG machine.

_Think Redfield… What do you remember? You were with Claire, and then you left because you got a call from Sheva… You went out to your car and then what?_

He frowned, unable to think of anything more than that. Clearly something happened; otherwise he wouldn't have been in the hospital. That's when a strange thought occurred to him.

_Wait… where is Claire? If I'm here then why isn't she? And why is it so quiet?_

He listened for a moment, concentrating on any potential sound but found nothing more than the EKG informing him that his heartbeat was normal. There was no one walking around, no sounds from the hallway, everything was silent. He grew suspicious but decided that perhaps it was because it was night time. There were no windows and he had no way to gauge the time. If it were the middle of the night that would explain why it was so quiet.

_Would it though?_

His mind whispered to him but he did his best not to listen to it. Instead Chris gently lifted the nurse call button and pressed it. Once a nurse came in he would be able to find out how he got here. He waited, and waited, but nothing happened. He pushed the button again, and still nothing happened. That was it, he was done waiting around. He pulled the sticky pads off his chest, and the EKG monitor began screaming at him, warning him in loud obnoxious bursts that something was wrong with his heart rate.

He ignored it and slid off the bed, wobbling slightly. He had no idea how long he had been sleeping, but it had clearly been enough time to stiffen the muscles across his entire body. His legs protested his new standing position, but he ignored them, walking swiftly around the bed, to the door.

He took hold of the handle and pulled.

"What the hell? Locked?" He said into the silence of the room.

The large electronic lock securing the door was glowing red, and there was no way he would be able to open it without a pass code. In fact there wasn't even anywhere to _enter_ a passcode. There was nothing, other than a box attached to the edge of the door. Now he was really confused.

_What kind of hospital has electronic locks? And how did I end up in one?_

With his mind swimming, Chris found himself perplexed by yet another new discovery. He was shirtless, but still in his jeans, and combat boots.

_Was I wearing combat boots?_

And as he scanned the room a second time, he found himself looking at his BSAA shirt, hanging on a hook next to his combat vest and shoulder harness. He knew for a _fact_ that he hadn't been wearing _that_. He had been wearing a t-shirt, and sneakers, now that he came to think of it. He walked over and pulled on the shirt, before securing the vest and harness.

There was a gun in the holster of the harness, and he pulled it out to examine it. It was his personal one. He could see the tiny S.T.A.R.S. logo etched into the handle, and the light knick in the barrel from the time he had the gun knocked across the room by Wesker. It felt loaded, and he began to get a strange, almost nostalgic feeling. He felt like he was back in Africa.

_No… not Africa. This feels like Raccoon City all over again…_

Only this time he was alone, and there was no sign of Wesker.

He placed the Beretta back in its holster and took a seat on the edge of his bed. He needed to figure out a way to get out of the room, but with the door securely locked he was beginning to question how he was going to do it. He stopped trying to make sense of the whole thing, and just look at the facts. He was in a room with only one door, no windows and he needed to escape.

He was a strong guy, but even for him bursting through a wall was a little over the top. But as his gray eyes swept the room, he was beginning to think it was his only viable option. He swept a hand over his face, and let out a grunt. Pushing himself off the bed, he moved back toward the door and planted his fist against the heavy metal frame. The door made a resounding _thud_ as his hand collided with it, and Chris let out a yell in frustration.

"Welcome everyone!"

Chris blinked and quickly spun around, pulling out the Beretta, and sweeping it around the room.

"It's so nice of you all to join me"

He focused in on a small speaker hidden in the ceiling tiles and slowly lowered the gun. He walked over cautiously, and glanced up at it. The voice that came through was a woman's, soft and almost delicate. She had an accent but he couldn't really place where she was from.

"My name is Doctor Olivier Girard, and I am happy to be your host during your stay. As some of you may have noticed, your doors have been securely locked, for your protection. While you all were napping I took the liberty of having some of your items brought here. In just a moment, the electronic locks on your doors will open, and you will be free to explore my little facility. But wait… I'm getting ahead of myself. I bet you would like to know why you're here."

Chris frowned, and crossed his arms over his chest. He didn't like the sound of this, and he was beginning to get the impression that whatever this woman was about to say, was going to seriously piss him off.

"I am conducting a little research, and you are going to help me do that. You see, some of the… creations… that were made here, have not been tested in the field. It is my job to test them. And so I had you all brought here to aid me in my research. I wish to know how well my little creatures survive against the finest in B.O.W. eradicators. Please do not disappoint me."

He was right.

"You will find plenty of supplies scattered around the facility, and you will also find that you each possess a single key. If all six of you manage to make it to the exit, you will need to use your keys to open the door to the escape. I do wish you all the best of luck, and hope you enjoy your stay."

The speaker crackled, and Chris cursed. It was the Spencer Mansion all over again. Crazy people in a maze like building with one way out and strange creatures blocking his path. At least he had done this all before. He just hoped that the other people she was talking about knew how to handle these sorts of situations. If they couldn't protect themselves he was going to have a hard time on his hands keeping them all alive.

Eliza scowled as the PA system finally went silent. She had heard the French woman's words but she had a hard time believing what she had said. Even as she stood in the middle of the hospital room, wearing khaki colored cargo pants, her purple tank top and combat vest, with thigh high boots, she still had a difficult time comprehending the information.

She ejected the clip in her Beretta and counted her shots. She had fifteen bullets to shoot and an unknown number of hostiles to deal with. She would need to keep her mind focused, and ready for anything. Girard had mentioned supplies strewn about the facility and Eliza could only pray that it included ammo. In fact she prayed it included a lot of things. Food, medical supplies, alternate weapons, were just a couple of the things Eliza was worried about finding.

She returned the handgun to the holster on her right thigh and took another walk around the room. She was in search of anything that could be of some use to her. She had already pocketed a couple rolls of gauze, and a bottle of aspirin she found in one of the drawers on the rolling cart. Other than that she didn't see anything that was going to be useful for her. There were some tools in the other drawers, but nothing she would be able to use.

She took a breath as the electronic lock released and turned to face the door. She could feel her heart beginning to pound, but she wasn't afraid. Her heart was beating fast because she was on alert. Her training had kicked in the moment she heard the door lock. She pulled the Beretta out and held it firmly, as she approached the door.

Eliza pushed the door open and stepped into the hallway, pressing her back against the wall. She knew she needed to cover herself. If Leon had been there she wouldn't need to worry so much about it, but he wasn't and so she would need to deal with it herself.

At first appearance the hallway looked empty. There was nothing moving, no people or living creatures. In fact there was no sound at all other than the humming of the florescent lights in the ceiling above her. She kept her breathing steady and her gun in hand as she made her way down the hall. There didn't seem to be anything interesting or useful around her.

In fact there was almost nothing at all. No doors other than the one she came out of, no pictures or windows. The floor was a simple white tile with gray grouting, and the walls were blank white like the room. Aside from the lights there was nothing at all.

_What kind of place is this…?_

A sound behind her made her jump slightly and spin on her heels. She leveled the Beretta but found herself staring down the same empty hallway she had come through. If she wasn't scared before, she was beginning to be now. She knew she had heard something, but whatever it was had vanished before she could spin around. That thought unsettled her. Giving one more glance down the hallway she turned slowly and continued where she was going.

As Eliza continued down the hallway she began to grow more worried about her current situation. She couldn't shake the feeling that something was following her, but the occasional glances she tossed over her shoulder didn't reveal anything new. She only stopped as she reached an intersection in the hallway. To her right, the hall went on for twenty feet before coming to a dead end. To the left the hall continued on before turning left again.

As Eliza took a step toward the intersection she heard something crash behind her. She spun around so fast she almost lost her balance. As her eyes scanned over what was now in the hallway, her mind tried to think of something to relate it too. It was tall and thin, standing easily over seven feet, hunched at the shoulders. Its arms were freakishly long, hanging down almost to the floor.

It wasn't until the creature crouched down and let out a scream that Eliza brought up her gun and fired. Three shots screamed out of the barrel hitting the creature. Two shots pelted its chest and the third struck it in the face. As it fell onto its back Eliza took a moment to catch her breath and try to figure out where it had come from.

She traced the walls, up to the ceiling and found a hole in the tile. Clearly that was how it had followed her without being spotted. What confused her was how it had been able to track her, while keeping totally hidden in the tiles.

She took a step toward it, cautiously keeping the Beretta trained on the body. Its skin was dark, almost reptilian looking, and its head looked like an oversized iguana's. Keeping the gun steady she examined the creature closer, the puddle of brownish liquid from its wounds pooled on the ground under it. She was unaware at how hard her heart was beating, or how fast she was breathing as she lightly traced her fingers over the skin.

_Umbrella…._

As her fingers came in contact with the leathery skin, its eyes snapped open and the creature rolled backwards away from her. Eliza yelped and fell back, with her eyes wide. She watched it get to its feet, and with one huge leap it was air born, flipping itself mid jump to cling to the ceiling. Eliza didn't wait to see how it managed to do that. Instead she scrambled to her feet and bolted down the hall.

_It moves like the lickers… What the hell is this place?_

She could picture the lickers from Raccoon City as this new creation bounded after her. She could hear it clambering along the ceiling, catching up. All Eliza could think about was reaching the intersection. She heard it push off after her and she dove through the space, sliding on the floor and slamming into the wall with her shoulder. The creature hit the wall at head level, and came crashing down on top of her.

She kicked her legs hard and got to her feet once more racing down the hall. Stealing a look over her shoulder she pivoted and fired as it dove through the air again at her. It let out the same blood chilling howl as it hit the floor again. She didn't wait to see it get back up. In one fluid motion she turned and continued running.

Her lungs burned, and her ears were hyper sensitive to the sounds coming from behind her. It was on the move again, racing down the hall after her. She didn't know how long she could keep running, or if she would be able to put it down for good. She reached the new intersection and stole another look as she darted left-

"Shit!"

-and felt an arm hook around her. Eliza struggled at first but the deafening sound of a gun firing next to her ear made her bring her hands up in surprise. The arm around her had a secure grip, and she knew she wasn't going to get anywhere by struggling. So she relaxed her muscles enough to spin and see the creature give one final shutter before relaxing in a heap on the ground.

"Are you alright?"

The deep male voice spilled out around her and Eliza looked up in surprise. Her breathing was fast, and her eyes were wide as she scanned over his face. She knew most men couldn't resist the damsel in distress act, and that was what she was going to give him, until she figured out who he was. She saw the concern well up on his features and he let her go. Eliza took a step back pulling the Beretta on him.

The man was _huge._ His biceps were as large around as her head. He was almost a foot taller than her, and twice her width. If she got into some sort of battle with him she would have to rely on her speed to avoid getting crushed.

He looked surprised at first, but quickly gained his composure. He held up his hands to show her he wasn't going to hurt her, and slowly he placed his gun on the floor in front of him. She kept her green eyes trained on him, trying to figure out why he seemed so familiar.

"Listen I'm not going to hurt you. My name is Chris Redfield."

She blinked and lowered her gun. She had never met him directly, but she had seen his profile photo's before. It had been part of her job to know everyone involved with the Raccoon incident. He tipped his head to the side and pointed to his gun.

"Can I pick up my weapon please? If another of those hunters comes back I don't want to be caught unarmed."

Eliza let her gun drop and quickly placed it in the holster on her thigh before scooping up his weapon and offered it to him. He took it and offered her a small smile in return.

"I'm special agent Eliza Cole." She said as she stepped away from him.

"Special Agent huh?" The man – Chris – tucked away his Beretta as he began checking the creature lying dead on the floor. He didn't seem like he was too concerned with their situation or that he was even the least bit worried. "So what branch are you in? NSA? CIA? FBI?"

"It's classified" She said as she leaned against the nearest wall. She heard him scoff and the sound reminded her of Leon. But instead of coming back with some witty one liner Chris turned his head away from the creature and promptly changed the subject.

"Have you taken a good look at this? I mean it looks like a hunter but it's different. It's thinner, and Hunters don't scale walls."

Eliza was impressed by his ability to keep on point. It was a skill most people didn't have. She shook her head at him and frowned as she pushed off the wall and made her way toward the 'hunter' lying in a pool of its own blood.

"I've never see a Hunter in person. I've only read about them." She stated after a moment.

Chris glanced at her and stood up, running a hand through his hair.

"Lucky you. Trust me; be happy you've never faced these things before. I know this really scary but stick with me and I'll make sure you make it out alive." He gave her a relaxed smile, and Eliza found herself feeling slightly insulted.

"I said I've never faced Hunters before. I didn't say I've never done anything _like_ this before." She crossed her arms over her chest. "I grew up in Raccoon City."

Chris grimaced, but didn't respond. It was clear by the look on his face that he felt bad for assuming she had never done anything like this before. Eliza let out a small sigh and turned down the hallway. She heard Chris following her, and she felt comforted by the fact that she wasn't alone out here.

"And I was kidding about the classified thing…" She began speaking after a few moments of silence. "I work for a special task force in the military designed to handle B.O.W. attacks."

"Isn't that the BSAA's job? I mean what's the point in having two groups to fight the B.O.W.s?" He stated, and she found herself for the first time, noticing the BSAA emblem embroidered to his left sleeve.

"We don't fight them per say. Our men are trained to engage a B.O.W. only as a last resort. Our main focus is to evacuate civilians, and secure the perimeter."

He glanced at her and nodded his head. He seemed like a smart enough guy, and she was confident he could figure the rest out on his own. His job was to destroy the B.O.W. threat. Hers was to make sure there was no one in his way when he did it.

Nick had found himself standing in the middle of a lab confused as _fuck_ as to what he had just listened too. Apparently some crazy woman had kidnapped him with five other people, and was making them participate in some crazy survival game. He let out a breath and rolled his eyes at the audacity of it all. The only thing he had wanted was to enjoy his sandwich and get on with his day. But no, he needed to go and get kidnapped by a crazy woman who wanted to kill them all.

He thought about Jill and whether he would be able to find her somewhere in this place. He knew he was going to need to get moving, but he figured it was best for him to examine the room for any of those supplies the woman had mentioned. Pulling open a couple of drawers, and fiddling through some shelves he had discovered a clip of handgun ammo, and a small bottle of aspirin. Pocketing the two in the pouch on his hip, he finally pushed open the newly unlocked door and headed out into the hallway.

_Someone needs to hire a new decorator…_

He thought to himself as he looked back and forth between the walls. The floor was blanketed with a green and brown swirled carpet, and the walls were an ugly brown color. He wrinkled his nose as he continued down the hall. He opened a couple doors along the way, and quickly glanced into the rooms he passed. They all appeared to be offices, filled with filing cabinets, and desks.

What was odd about them was the lack of windows. It reminded him of some sort of basement. He assumed that where ever they were, it was underground somewhere, but he had no idea of figuring out where. Finding nothing useful in any of the rooms, he came across the last door in the hall and as he pushed the door open he found himself suddenly feeling secure.

He couldn't explain why it was that he felt so comfortable there, but he couldn't deny it. Something about this room made him feel like he could relax and nothing could get to him. He walked over to the desk at the back of the room and ran his fingers along the wooden surface. He looked around the desk and found himself staring at what appeared to be a clear remote of some kind.

It was like a clear thin box made of heavy plastic, as he picked it up in his hands the console lit up. Parker raised an eyebrow as he read the words reflected on the clear surface. There was a list of random cities from all over the world and as Parker scrolled through he found himself intrigued by what they could be for.

Gently he let his fingers tap New York, and he jumped at the sudden mechanical hum that came from behind him. He turned and blinked, as the wall began moving, sliding up into the ceiling revealing a beautiful view of the New York skyline. It was as if he was in a high office building, which looked out over downtown.

He walked to the window and looked down. There was no sound coming from the window, but everything else was perfectly New York. He could see the empire state building off in the distance, and time square with all its lights and advertisements. Something made him wonder, if he was in New York then what did the other cities on the remote mean.

Nick looked down at the device in his hand and tapped the word Tokyo. In an instant the image of New York City began melting and changing. Before his very eyes the image changed, and he found himself looking at the Japanese capitol. He blinked and tipped his head as he tried to process what he was looking at. It wasn't a window at all, instead it was a large monitor designed to give the people living in the office the feel that they were back home.

He was amazed at the technology here. It was unlike anything he had ever seen. Nick had seen a lot of amazing pieces of technology in the BSAA, but nothing compared to what he was looking at now. As he scrolled through the different cities, he found himself almost lost in the different landscapes. London with its giant clock tower easily visible from his office building, was different then Moscow, with its skyscrapers in mid construction. There was even a view from Dubai, and Nick marveled at the strange building designs, with their odd shapes and illogical angles.

"Oh my GOD! HELP!"

Nick jolted out of his amazement at the sound of a woman screaming for help. Without hesitation he jerked the handgun out of his shoulder harness and bolted out the door. The sound hadn't come from far away and he had a good sense of direction. Following the sound he had to bypass three infected humans, who he knew hadn't screamed for help. He took care of them easily with one shot to each of their heads.

"Please help me! Someone!"

As the woman continued yelling Nick increased his speed, but came to a halting stop as he found himself suddenly emerged in an indoor jungle. He didn't have time to enjoy it; he needed to find the woman screaming and help her. He bolted through the vines and branches that slapped at his face. Ignoring the occasional sting he slowed to a stop to listen. Things were suddenly quiet, and he was beginning to wonder if he was too late.

"Hello?" He yelled into the wall of foliage in front of him. The trees and bushes were so thick it was near impossible to see more than a few feet in front of him.

Nick's heart began to pound as he slowly continued deeper into the brush. After a couple moments he heard rustling in front of him and he pointed his hand gun.

"Hello?" He repeated.

"Hello?" Nick froze as his own voice came back at him through the vegetation. Something was mimicking him, and he was beginning to feel like whoever was screaming earlier, wasn't human.

He took a step back and snapped something under his foot. In an instant he was surrounded by a mixture of feathers, and leaves and his ears were filled with the sound of some sort of avian creature. He fell to the ground as the bird like thing swooped by him again. Nick let off three shots with his hand gun in rapid succession. He rolled and got to his feet bolting through the underbrush.

The creature circled and came at him again. He would have been surprised at the agility of it, but he was too busy worrying how he was going to keep dodging it. He opted to dive into the underbrush and found himself belly down under a set of tropical ferns. He felt the air rush past him as the bird like beast missed him.

He tipped his head up and finally got a good look at it as it landed on a branch a few yards past him. It was huge, and clearly had been a parrot in its passed life. It had sections of feathers missing, and the bare flesh was visible oozing with some strange bodily fluid. The beak was three times the size it should be for its head, and Nick could see a clear row of razor sharp teeth peeking down from the upper mandible.

Its eyes were small black holes, lost in the feathers around its face. The talons on its feet wrapped around the branch it had perched on, and surprisingly enough it didn't look that strange when he had the change to examine it. Besides its size and teeth it wasn't that different from any other parrot.

_Any parrot whose flesh is falling off its bones…_

He raised the handgun and fired two more shots at the creature, hitting it in the chest. With a squeal it fell off its perch and he felt a moment of relaxation. Relaxation that was suddenly deflated as the creature came swooping up again landing on the branch and scanning the area with its beady eyes. Nick shifted in his position to prepare to run, and when he did the massive bird swung its head around.

The odd thing was it didn't turn to look at him. It was listening. Getting a sudden idea Nick scooped up a small stone and tossed it by the face of the creature. There was no reaction by the bird until the rock crashed down into the branch line. Like a bullet it took off after the sound, vanishing behind the thick wall of greenery.

Nick let out a sigh, but kept his eyes trained on where it had been previously. He could still hear it calling in his voice, and as much as it sent chills down his spine, he knew he had to hold his ground until it was safe enough to move. He wasn't sure how long he would be stuck here, but he was prepared to hunker down as long as it took.

Claire had wandered around for what felt like hours. She wasn't sure where she was, or where she was going. All she did know was that she needed to find herself some ammo. She had encountered some zombies when her door unlocked, but with only fifteen total shots in her handgun, she wasn't very confident that she would last very long.

She had woken up in some sort of lab, like the kind Umbrella had hidden under Raccoon's Police Department. The thought had unsettled her, but she had decided it was in her best interests just to ignore it and keep moving forward. The French woman had mentioned six people here, and Claire was determined to find at least one of them.

_BAM BAM BAM_

She froze for a moment as the distinct pop of gunfire rang out around her. It was close enough for her to hear it, but far enough to have come from anywhere. The sound bounced off the facilities walls, creating an echo that made it near impossible for her to pinpoint where they had come from. She cursed as she picked a direction.

She wanted more than anything to find and help whoever was shooting, and as her legs carried her quickly down yet another white hallway she was beginning to think she had picked the wrong way. Part of her told her to keep moving, that maybe she would come across something familiar, or maybe the shooter would start up again. The other part told her to turn back and try the other direction.

_It's too late now… I'm already heading this way_

She turned right keeping her handgun ready, as she continued on her search. The place was like a maze, all the halls looked the same, and there were so many twists and turns that it was near impossible to remember exactly where you had gone or come from. For all she knew she could be walking in a circle and she would have no way to realize it.

_Have to figure out a way to mark where I've been…_

She stopped walking and examined the hall for something she could use. She looked for a pipe, or rock, anything heavy enough to leave a mark on the walls stark white surface. Searching for the other survivor was fine, but it wouldn't do her any good if she just kept looping around the same area. And she needed a way to get back to her safe room, in case she came across something she couldn't kill with eleven bullets.

She had done her share of that in Raccoon. Mr. X had proven to be tough as shit to kill. Eleven bullets wouldn't even phase something like that, and judging by the zombies she had seen already, it wouldn't surprise her if there was something like that here.

_Don't think about Mr. X…. He's dead for good this time._

She forced herself to think of something else as she pegged another zombie shambling toward her. At least they were slow, and they didn't seem to flood the halls like they did in certain areas of Raccoon. It was either a good sign that there hadn't been a lot of people to be infected, or a really bad sign that things were just going to get worse.

She didn't want to think about that either. All Claire really wanted to do was get the hell out of there, go home and call Chris. She wanted to let him know she was okay, and she wanted to tell him that there were still crazy per-

_BAM BAM _

Claire was off in a full sprint toward the sound of the shots. She thanked fate for letting her chose the right way, and just prayed she could get to them in time to help whoever it was that needed help. As she rounded yet another corner, she skidded to a stop, unable to believe what she was seeing.

The hallway opened up into what looked like some sort of botanical garden that spanned at least five floors. It would have been beautiful if she had seen it anywhere else. The plants and trees covered the entire area, and all surrounded what looked like a small pond in the middle of the room. She could hear water flowing, and her eyes trailed up the five story opening, spotting the giant waterfall that cascaded down from the top.

It was beyond impressive. She was reminded of a jungle, and half expected to see some sort of wild animal hidden in the vines and thick branches that covered the area. As she started walking again, she found herself enjoying the smells of exotic flowers. This was not like the rest of the building, in fact it wasn't like anything Claire had ever seen before. The death smell that normally followed the infected was hidden by the sweet, almost fruity smell of tropical plants. She almost had to remind herself where she was.

She passed by a couple of benches, tucked into the foliage along the path she was walking and came to the sharp realization that this place was probably designed to give the people who worked here a taste of the outside. She had seen something similar in WilPharma's headquarters but at the time she had been so preoccupied with the G virus she had missed the chance to enjoy it. But now as she walked along the vine littered paths, she found herself amazed at the beauty of it all.

"Hello?"

Claire stopped as a male voice floated toward her, and she drew her hand gun. It obviously wasn't a zombie, but that didn't make the guy a friend either. It had to be the shooter from before, and although she had been so gung ho to help a moment ago, she found herself now suddenly cautious.

"Who are you?" She called into the forest.

"Hello?" The male voice repeated.

Claire frowned, and moved forward slowly, keeping her gun pointed ahead of her. Perhaps the guy couldn't hear her. Or maybe he was attacked and injured so badly he wasn't aware of his actions fully. She couldn't know for sure, all she could do was keep moving forward until she found him.

"Tell me where you are! Are you injured?" She tried again to hail whoever was in there with her.

"Hey! Keep it down!" A suddenly stressed whisper reached her ears through the foliage and Claire spun fast, nearly losing her balance. She peered into the bushes, and found a man ducked down with a handgun. He was wearing a BSAA uniform, and seemed to keep his eyes trained on something far in the distance. He shifted his gaze toward her and motioned for her to lower herself.

The man looked crazed, but he appeared uninjured. With every instinct telling her to high tail it out of there, she found herself complying with him. Dipping under a low hanging vine she crawled her way toward him, and tried to follow his gaze.

"Uh… Why are you down here? We should be go-"

He slapped a hand over her mouth and Claire jerked her body back in surprise.

"Quiet…" He whispered. "No time to explain, but whatever is in here with us can mimic sounds. And I don't think it has very good eyesight"

Claire blinked and suddenly felt very sick. This guy had no reason to lie to her, and she had seen enough bio weapons to know that it wasn't unreasonable. He moved his hand away from her face and gave her a small and apologetic smile and all she could do was resist the urge to throw up.

He placed a hand on her shoulder, as if to reassure her. "My name is Nick Parker. If we keep quiet and head back that way we can get out of here. I found a safe place to keep hidden, it's not much but at least the zombies can't get in" He motioned toward his safe area and Claire followed his gaze with a nod.

She didn't know this guy at all but the name Parker sounded somehow familiar to her. Judging by his BSAA uniform she wondered if he knew Chris or Jill. Perhaps she had heard one of them mention a Parker. She decided she had no choice but to trust him. Claire was armed and if the guy tried anything sketchy she would put a bullet in his head.

For a moment as they crawled through the underbrush she felt a twinge of emotional pain. Umbrella had changed her so much. A few years ago she never would have thought about killing another human being. But now, everything was a threat to her somehow. She didn't think about it anymore as they emerged from the tree line and back out into the open hallway.

This hall was much different than the one she had come through. Here there were plenty of doors, and rooms to explore. There were pictures on the walls in this hallway, and they were no longer in all white. These walls were painted a deep, warm beige color, and the floor was carpeted with a tan and dark green pattern. She felt much more comfortable here, but she didn't want to let herself get too relaxed.

"So Nick… Who are you exactly?" She asked as he pushed open a door and walked into an office.

He glanced over his shoulder at her and shot her a deep grin. He was oddly unfazed by what was going on around them and she wondered if he had done this before. Or perhaps he was just one of those people that didn't get worked up over something he didn't have control over.

_Seriously. He's a BSAA agent. Of course he's done this before…_

She gave him a smile back, though hers was much less relaxed.

"I told you my name, I think it's time you told me yours" He said as he leaned against one of the large desks in the room.

"Right… I'm Claire. Claire Redfield"

She saw Nick stop for a moment and look at her. It was as if a strange light bulb had gone off in his brain and he pushed himself off the desk. As he walked toward her she didn't feel worried like she probably should. Instead she felt almost comfortable with his approach.

"Redfield… I knew you looked familiar." He said after a moment. He had stopped walking a couple feet away from her, and stuffed his hands into his pockets. "I know your brother."

Claire felt her face light up. Anyone that knew her brother would make sure to look after her. Not that she needed looking out for. She had done enough of this stuff on her own but the thought of being out here with someone who knew Chris made her feel a lot better. Nick wouldn't slow her down, and he would be able to watch her back as they searched for the others.

Leon sighed as he rounded yet another blank corner into yet another blank hallway. The walls were white, the floor was white, even the ceiling tiles were white. He felt like he was in some sort of sterile building, like he should be wearing a white jumpsuit with plastic bags over his shoes and a hair net instead of his cargo pants, long sleeved blue shirt and tactical vest. He felt out of place, like some big boss was going to come out of one of the locked doors and yell at him for being out of uniform.

Of course he knew that wasn't really going to happen. The only things that had popped out at him at all were a couple of infected people. Managing to dismantle them had been easy enough; after all he had dealt with zombies plenty of times before. Leon could nail a head shot from across a room at a running target. What he didn't understand was why he was always getting forced into situations like this.

For the most part he found himself to be a pretty lucky, but right about now, as he jiggled the third locked door knob in a row, he was beginning to feel like his luck was running low.

"Seriously… come on…" He said to the locked door.

He knew it wouldn't respond but the sound of his voice cracking through the silence made him feel a little less like he was all alone. Letting out a sigh he turned and looked both ways down the hall. That strange hollow, in the place between his chest and his stomach began to flutter, as he began to get the impression that he wasn't alone anymore.

He narrowed his eyes as he took a step away from the security of the door and into the open hallway. He wasn't afraid, he was alert. The rolling sensation in his chest was more from anticipation than anything else. Leon had been in worse situations then an empty hallway before, and with all the crazy things he had seen in his life time he didn't think that whatever he was about to see would really surprise him.

_Clink…_

Leon back flipped out of the way as the ceiling tile came crashing to the ground where he had just been standing. As he landed and wretched out the Matilda he frowned as he looked at the broken tile, scattered on the floor. Most of it had managed to stay together in a clump, but his blue eyes scanned over the little broken remnants of the compressed paper mulch that had scattered across the hallway. He shifted his line of sight up to where the tile had once been, and the black hole that looked back at him revealed no clues on the attack.

If Leon had been a different guy in a different time, he may have chocked the incident up to building damage. He may have been able to push it to the back of his mind as an accident that had happened because the ceiling tile was old, or had been wet before. But he wasn't a different guy, and this wasn't a different time. In his experience things didn't happen without a reason, and for him those reasons weren't usually good.

He heard something skitter across the ceiling and he turned slowly shifting his eyes up to where the sound should have come from. Somehow he wasn't surprised by the fact that there wasn't anything there. At least nothing he could see. The fluttering in his chest got a bit more intense as he kept his eyes trained on the ceiling, trying to figure out what it was that could have knocked out a ceiling tile, or scurry across it after him. There was another flurry of sound behind him and he suddenly realized what was happening. He was being baited.

Whatever was hunting him wasn't just out to kill him. It was toying with him like a cat, with a mouse. It was keeping out of his line of sight, and it was making sure to make sounds intentionally to distract him. He could guess that there was more than one; otherwise it was the fastest thing he had ever encountered.

_Fast and silent._

Leon brought the Matilda up and waited, listening for the skittering sound to come back.

"Come on you son of a bitch" He whispered into the empty air.

He didn't need to wait long before the sound came back. It was an eerie sound, like claws or talons clicking against a hard surface. It reminded him of a dog, who had nails so long they tapped on the floor. Leon had to resist the urge to spin around. He knew better than that, it wouldn't be behind him like the sound would have him believe. Instead he took a couple steps backward and fired at the ceiling where the thing would really be.

He squeezed the trigger, and at first, as he saw the spray of plaster, he thought he had missed. He counted the seconds and by the time he hit four, he discovered that his shot hadn't missed. The creature let out a screech and fell off the ceiling, landing on its back in a heap.

Leon watched, with his gun ready, as it kicked its legs in an odd sort of spasm that made him think of the lickers in Raccoon City. Kicking its legs forward it launched itself off the ground, landing on its feet and flipping its body up to look at him. For a moment he locked eyes with it, noting the lizard like body it had, with its horrendously long arms, and legs. It stood slightly hunched at the shoulders, the talon like claws of its fingers almost touching the floor by its feet.

Leon wasn't sure for a moment where he had hit the creature but as his eyes scanned over its body he finally saw the gooey, ragged hole in its side. The brownish liquid seeped out of the wound pooling on the floor where it stood. Without taking his eyes off his dueling partner he used his thumb to click the Matilda's three shot burst into the 'on' position and squeezed the trigger.

_TAT TAT TAT_

It jerked back and its strange rust colored blood splattered the white wall behind it. With an unearthly squeal it launched itself off the ground. Leon squeezed the trigger again, but the reptile was fast, and two of the three shots smacked the ceiling, sending a shower of tile onto the floor. Leon kept his eyes trained on it as it scurried after him. Pushing off the ceiling it launched toward him, and it was all the time he had to bring the Matilda up.

_BAM!_

The strange shot resonated in the hallway and Leon turned to see a woman with blonde hair pulled back into a ponytail. She was wearing a BSAA uniform, made from blue stretchable fabric. Over her chest, was a tactical vest, similar to his, and he noticed the Beretta she had tightly held in her hands. The woman's blue eyes were filled with a strange intensity that told him she had done this all before. As he watched her, he was reminded of Eliza, with how she seemed so confident, and how shooting a lizard creature off a ceiling seemed so natural to her.

He heard the creature smack the floor and he turned toward it, placing the barrel of his px70 against its head. For a second it looked at him, and the reptilian eyes seemed to peer through him, almost looking sad, as if its attack on them had been an accident, or out of its control. As he stood there looking at the pitiful thing as he heard the woman come up behind him and glance over his shoulder. Leon glanced at her and squeezed the trigger sending it into a convulsive spasm before it let out a quiet groan and its muscles relaxed.

"That was a good shot back there" He said as he put the Matilda into the holster on his thigh.

"Thanks…" she said as she tucked a strand of blonde hair behind her ear. He thought for a moment he could see a light blush appear on her cheeks, but she spun on her heels away from him before he could confirm it. "I'm Jill by the way."

"Leon." He gave her a small smile and took a step toward her. "So I take it you've done this before?"

She nodded before turning to face him. She was fiddling with the clip of her Px4 and as she glanced up at him he was reminded again of Eliza.

_I hope you're alright El…_

"I was one of the S.T.A.R.S. members that survived the Arklay Mountains."

Leon blinked and was pulled away from his own thoughts as he heard two things in particular. S.T.A.R.S. and Arklay Mountains. She was a Raccoon City survivor like him, and he felt an instant connection with her. Like they were brothers-in-arms, like when veterans from an old war met for the first time and shared their tales of survival. But there weren't going to be tales of survival for them, at least not until they survived _this_.

The name Jill did sound familiar though, even if he couldn't figure out why. He had spent a long time studying the files of different survivors, so he was sure he had read the name in there. He pushed the thought to the back burner and decided to focus his attention on getting to the other survivors.

"Have you seen anyone else around here?" He asked Jill as the two of them began walking down the hallway.

"No. I heard you shooting and came to see what was going on. You're the first I've seen. But I'm pretty sure my partner is here somewhere he and I were taken at the same time." She got a sad look in her eye as she spoke and Leon got that feeling in his chest again.

_I know you're here somewhere… I'll find you El._

He saw her out of the corner of his eye, and noticed her tip her head to the side with a slightly concerned look on her features.

"Are you alright?" She asked after he ran his hand through his hair with an exasperated sigh.

"Yeah… When they took me they told me they had my partner. I know she's here somewhere and I just hope she's alright." He closed his eyes and leaned against the wall a moment. "I know she can handle herself here… But anything can happen, if a zombie catches her off guard, or she gets overwhelmed. I just hope she found someone to watch her back"

Jill nodded and walked over to him, placing a hand onto his shoulder. It was clear she felt the same worry he wore written on his face, and he appreciated the simple act. Opening his eyes and looking at her he pushed off the wall and gave her a single nod.

"Well then, let's get going. We aren't going to find our partners by standing around here right?"

Jill smiled lightly at him and nodded.

"Right"

Jill had spent a long time that day wandering around with no idea where it was she was going, or how she was going to get there. She knew Nick was here somewhere, and that she wanted to find him as fast as possible. She also knew there were four other people here with them, and she could run into any of them just as easily as she could run into Parker.

As her day went on she had been let out of her prison room, killed a half dozen zombies – one had nearly grabbed her from behind – and found a man named Leon, trying to kill one of the shadow walkers she had avoided earlier in the hallway. That's what she was calling them anyway. She had managed to spot one crawling along the ceiling earlier, and had watched it vanish into the shadows.

It hadn't noticed her and she was able to study it for a few moments. It had taken all of her concentration to keep her eyes on it as it moved into and out of the shadows on the ceiling, but what she discovered was that it resembled a chameleon. She had seen its skin tone lighten when it was exposed to the bright sections, and darken when it moved to shadow, making it near impossible to spot.

As she walked along with Leon she found herself telling him about the shadow walkers, and what she had discovered. He listened to her, nodding his head from time to time, and occasionally offering her a simple word or two to show he was paying attention, and she appreciated it.

As they moved through the area she was beginning to notice that they were getting more and more home like. They passed a couple of open rooms, that looked like they may have been dorms of some sort, there were beds and desks, bureaus littered with lamps and papers, or old clothes. One room even had a pair of shoes tucked partially under the bed. In a strange way it made her sad to see it all. It had once belonged to someone, probably one of those people she had killed back in the other hallway. Even the room she had been in when this had all began, had looked like it had once belonged to someone else. At the time she had ignored it, pushing it to the far reaches of her mind, but as Leon pushed open the first door and began rummaging around the room, the thought had re surfaced.

It wasn't to say she didn't think he should be going through someone else's things. In a situation like this you needed to use any resource you had, and right now all they had were someone else's left overs. She kept her eyes on him for a moment, keeping her gun ready in case the room wasn't as empty as they had thought it was. His searching produced a couple handgun clips, which Jill was very thankful for, but other than that he didn't seem to find anything else that he found to be useful.

He handed her one of the clips, and she slid it into one of the pouches in her vest before heading into the next room. This one didn't seem as used as the previous. The bed in the center had been perfectly made, and the lack of items on the bureau had been either from someone that was a total neat freak, or hadn't been there at all. Either way, the lack of personal effects had made it a little easier for Jill to search.

"I'll keep watch this time" Leon said from somewhere behind her.

"I'll be fast" She responded as she began pulling open the drawers of the bureau. The perfectly folded clothes she found, had put her off a little, but she was already in there. Quickly shifting through the drawers she moved on to the end table near the bed finding nothing more than a notebook and pen next to an alarm clock. Inside the end table was a brush, a men's watch, and what looked like a journal. Jill couldn't help but open it and flip through the many hand written pages.

She glanced at the neatly written script, and found herself reading passage after passage, becoming lost in the perfectly lined letters. He had written about a number of different things, from how he came to work for Dr. Girard, and how his job was head of security, and how he was in charge of multiple security guards. He wrote letters to his wife and son that he had to leave behind somewhere, and how he missed them. Jill was hardly aware of Leon as he approached her, and she certainly wasn't aware of the fact that her eyes were tearing up as she read through the pages.

"You alright?" His voice cut through her concentration and she jumped slightly at the suddenness of it.

"Listen to this Leon…" She flipped to the last few pages and began to read them out loud "May 3rd. I found out something horrible this afternoon; apparently Dr. Girard has let the GA-7's out, to see how they handle my security team. That freaky thing clung to the walls and vanished in the shadows. It killed four of my men before we were able to finally take it down. That bitch didn't even say sorry for what she did, all I got out of her was a laugh. She even had the audacity to tell me that I should have trained them better. How can I train my men to fight something they've never been allowed to see?"

"May 24th. Today Girard informed me that she was going to use my men as a way to test out her new antivirus. I tried to protest, but she told me if I tried to stop her, she was going to fire me. I can't afford to lose this job Miranda and Peter are counting on me. Forgive me Mira…. All I ever wanted was to give you and Pete the lives you deserve, and now I'm not even sure if I'm going to survive long enough to ever see your face again… I love you Mira."

"June 19th. I haven't been feeling well the last few days. Girard said it was a side effect of the antivirus she had given me and my men. She said it might cause flu like symptoms, but I think she lied to us all. The woman is a monster she took us in with the promise of rebuilding Umbrella, by making their B.O.W.s better. Instead she's just watching us run around trying to survive in her little fun house while the B.O.W.s hunt us down like animals. I don't know how long I can survive this…"

"July 23rd. There's only two of us left now… Girard said we survived the antivirus process but now she needs new 'volunteers' to test out her projects. If anyone is reading this I am sorry for what is happening to you. It was never our intention to bring outsiders in to deal with these projects. I can not stop what is happening to you, but I can give you a little help. Most of the creatures here are nothing more then simple infected, but Girard has been doing her own research and she has a couple of things she has invented on her own. One of them the GA-7 is a brute. It can scale walls, and move at an incredibly fast rate, and it has the ability to blend into shadows. There's also a pair of MB-14's, parrot like creatures that have the ability to mimic human speech to draw its prey closer to it. Good luck to you, and if you survive this, please find my wife and tell her I love her, and that I am sorry I never made it home."

Jill stopped reading as she turned the page and found nothing but some pen marks and what looked like blood splatters. As she rested the journal down on the end table she noticed the scowl on Leon's face. Clearly he was thinking exactly what she was feeling. This Girard woman was more then just crazy, she was totally off her rocker and she had dragged all of them in with her. It was turning into more of a nightmare then Jill had originally thought.

She had always assumed that this was some sort of test by either Umbrella or the B.S.A.A., but seeing this made her wonder exactly what it was they had all managed to get themselves into. She heard Leon sigh and she glanced at him with a worried expression on her own features.

"It's like some sort of sick joke." He said as he turned away from the room and headed back for the hallway.

"We'll make it Leon." She didn't know what else to say to him, and even as the words came out of her mouth she sounded a little childish for it.

"I'm not worried about making it. I've survived Raccoon City, and so have you. You're Jill Valentine, former S.T.A.R.S. and current B.S.A.A. if we can't survive this, then I don't think anyone can."

For a moment his words repeated in her head as she followed him back into the hallway.

_You're Jill Valentine…._

She didn't remember telling him her last name, and she certainly didn't know his, but that one comment got her thinking. If he had survived Raccoon, then he had to be that cop Kennedy that had helped Claire when she went there looking for Chris. If it were true it was certainly a relief. At least she wasn't out here with someone that didn't know what they were doing, and with the things she had heard about Leon he certainly was capable of handling a situation like this.

Deep down she didn't really care how capable he was, all she wanted to do was find the others and get out of here.


	3. Chapter 3

_**Washington D.C.**_

_**August 16, 2013**_

_**8:07 pm**_

"How far have you come in your investigation?" President Andrew Turelli asked for the fourth time since he had heard the news at 9 that morning. Although Rumford had given him a slightly irritated look Andrew had felt like he had been pretty patient. It had been almost twelve hours since he had been first informed of the situation and he had only asked about the progress four times.

"So far not much more than we had a few hours ago. Director Reese has been conducting his own investigation and at his last report, he hadn't found any more clues either." Rumford held up a little plastic bag that had been sitting on his desk "We did find this; it's a small BB that was found on the ground near Kennedy's car. They pulled a partial print off it that they believe belongs to Special Agent Cole. We have gone to her home and done a full investigation and we now believe that perhaps Agent Kennedy wasn't at the coffee shop at all. We found his cell phone in Cole's home and we sent it off to be checked. There was a frantic voice mail on the phone by someone that sounded like Cole, but we aren't sure yet." He glanced up at the President from over the rim of his glasses and frowned. "Forgive us Sir. We really don't know much more than that right now"

Turelli opened his mouth to respond but was suddenly silenced by Jones coming quickly into the office with them. Rumford paused and glanced up from his own paperwork, turning his attention to the new advisor. Jones, who was quickly spreading documents across the desk, started frantically tapping one of the files in particular.

"We believe we found the culprit. Look here." Jones slid the paper toward Turelli and Rumford, and both men took a look with curiosity.

"Girard?" Turelli asked with a hint of confusion in his voice.

Jones nodded, and slid another paper toward him.

"She adds up. We've had our best agents-" Jones blinked and stopped talking a moment. "Sorry, you know what I mean… Anyway she popped onto our radar after some research of the agents past history. She seems to be a common factor involved with all of them, _and_ she has some serious involvement with Umbrella, WilPharma, and Tricell."

Turelli and Rumford exchanged glances before letting Jones continue.

"She started her career in Umbrella's Paris facility back in the early nineties. She did her primary research for them there until April of nineteen ninety-eight when she was sent to work alongside a researcher named Robert Cole inside Umbrella's lab in Raccoon City." He sat down in one of the vacant chairs pushing a folder toward Rumford. "Read this. It's from Umbrella's human resources."

Rumford opened the folder and glanced down at the first page on the list, and began reading the words out loud for the other two men to hear. "It has been brought to our attention, that the increasing hostility between researchers Robert Cole and Olivier Girard has begun causing quite a problem for our goals. At the formal requests of research leads Albert Wesker and William Birkin, we are approving the transfer of Olivier Girard, back to our Paris lab, in order to keep friction between the two in check. Girard's history with the Paris lab, as well as her citizenship in France, makes her the optimal choice for transfer. It is our feeling that the sooner this transfer is in place, the sooner we can move forward with our research." Rumford looked up from the paper and met Turelli's gaze. "So there's her connection to Eliza Cole. It's possible that she is doing something here as a way to extract payback on Robert Cole, for getting her transferred."

Turelli took over the file, and began to continue on for the men.

"This one is dated for early December of ninety-eight. Apparently, Girard was working in the Paris lab just around the time that the Claire Redfield tried to infiltrate it. After causing such trouble it seems Umbrella had sent her off to a different lab all together. According to this, Girard was sent to Russia, where she stayed until 2003. From there Chris Redfield and Jill Valentine infiltrated, and managed to destroy that lab, causing the final blow to the conglomerate and essentially Girard's history with the company. But what I don't get is how Parker and Kennedy are involved." Turelli rested the folder back onto the plastic table top and met the gaze of Jones.

Jones had a surprisingly pleased look on his face as he dropped yet another folder onto the table.

"I figured that out too. When I entered Girard's name into our database I got every file even mentioning her name. As I read on I found this." He tapped the paper with his right index finger. "Girard took off just before the trials that shut down Umbrella for good, and she went into hiding for almost a year. In fall of two thousand and four, when Kennedy was searching for President Graham's daughter she began working for WilPharma under the direct supervision of Fredric Downing, who worked with her in Umbrella. Downing had stolen the virus samples from Umbrella before the collapse, and when Girard came looking for a job, Downing gladly took in a former coworker." He grinned wide and the look of pride was almost exploding off his features. "In November two thousand and five Girard was directly involved with the incident at Harvardville Airport. She was standing by Downing every step of the way until the combined efforts of Kennedy and Redfield ruined their plans to sell the virus on the black market. Girard fled and vanished off the grid." Despite what Turelli believed, Jones' smile managed to grow even wider. "Or so we thought."

"How on Earth did this woman manage to be involved in all of these different things, without being caught before now?" Rumford asked as he scratched his head.

"When she fled WilPharma, we believe she may have taken both T and G virus samples with her, and where do you think she pops up again?" Jones looked at the two men expectantly.

Turelli thought for a moment and suddenly it hit him. "Tricell?"

Jones nodded. "Yep. It's our belief that she was contacted by Albert Wesker due to her knowledge of the two strains. Though we aren't sure about this last part, we have a lot of evidence to suggest that after the events of Kijuju – which we don't believe she was directly involved – she appears again in a Tricell uniform, where none other than Nicholas Parker, had been assigned by the BSAA to look into an incident involving a T-Virus outbreak in Canada. During the investigation, Parker came face to face with Girard, and her then business partner. Parker's partner at the time was unfortunately killed in action during their confrontation. After wrapping up the investigation Parker had accused Girard's partner of bio-terrorism but there was a lack of evidence during trial to convict him. The judge had stated that although he had connections to Girard and all of her past incidents, without proper evidence – which was of course destroyed when the lab in Quebec exploded – he could not do anything. That was in two thousand and ten."

"Wow, Jones. This is amazing work." Rumford stated, patting the young advisor on the back.

Turelli nodded with an exasperated sigh and ran the palm of his hand over his face. He knew that time was ticking, and if they weren't found soon the clues to their location were going to fizzle out in front of them. He had so many questions running through his frantic mind, and none of them seemed to have any answers. The members of his investigative team had done a fantastic job, figuring out the prime suspect, and although that eased his mind a bit, they still weren't any closer to finding the _where_ to this mystery.

As he left Rumford's office and made his way down one of the many halls of the white house he began to grow more and more grim. It wasn't that he didn't believe in his agents, because he would have trusted any of them with his life. What worried him was what sort of situation they could be trapped in.

Stepping into his study, Turelli closed the door and poured himself a glass of scotch, with a couple ice cubes. He needed a moment of quiet and relaxation to get his thoughts together. What pivotal piece of this puzzle were they all missing? Clearly something was slipping under their radar, but what that was still eluded him.

"Ah shit…" He quietly sighed as he sipped his drink and let his body flop into a rather plush arm chair, over in the corner of his office. Turelli closed his eyes, resting his body into the comfortable fabric, and before long he was asleep, his last thoughts of the day off with his agents, where ever they were finding themselves.

"So your father worked for Umbrella?"

After almost twelve hours of wandering around the facility with Eliza, Chris needed to get the answer. He had been ignoring the question that was burning in his mind since he had found out about her father, a few hours earlier but eventually his curiosity got the better of him and he couldn't resist any longer. Even as he asked he almost regretted the decision. No matter how casual he managed to make the question he knew there was a hint of strain in his voice.

As Eliza paused a few feet ahead of him and turned to meet his forcefully casual gaze, he knew she could see it too. But to Chris' surprise, Eliza didn't seem to be really bothered by the question. Instead she simply pushed her slender hands into her pockets and let out a soft sigh. As she leaned against a nearby wall and looked at Chris, he could see a struggle happening before his eyes.

"He did. When I was younger I was proud of him. But the more I think back on it, the more I wonder how much of this was because of him." She took in a deep breath and glanced down at her feet, and Chris found himself reminded of Claire. Taking a step toward her, he rested his palm on her shoulder and she glanced back at him. "I know Umbrella did so much to ruin your life. They ruined a lot of people's lives, and trust me I get that. I have no intention of supporting, or condoning their actions, but I also have no intentions of hating my father."

Chris blinked a moment and found himself looking at Eliza in confusion. Taking a step back he crossed his arms and found himself feeling almost defensive over her statement.

"So even if you found evidence that he _was_ involved? You wouldn't hate him?"

"Would you hate your sister? Look I'm not saying I think what he did was right. But he was my father, and aside from what he did at work, he was a damn good father too. He took care of us, was home for dinner every night, he and my mother were at every dance recital, every soccer game. He knew my teachers names, and my friends. I will never defend what he did, and I will never ask you to try and understand it. If you hated my father, I would understand and I wouldn't ask you to think differently. So please, show me the same courtesy. Let me remember Robert Cole, for the great father he was, and not for being a bio-terrorist." The look on Cole's face as she spoke was pleading. She wasn't asking Chris, she was begging him.

"You're right. I wouldn't hate my sister. I mean… she's my sister. No… I get it. You're right." He sighed and let his hands fall to his sides before motioning back to the hallway. "How about we forget it, and let's find somewhere to lay low for the night. I mean I don't know what time it is, but my body is telling me it's getting late."

Eliza smiled at him and gave a quick nod before pushing off the wall and continuing down the hall. So far they had managed to avoid anything more than a couple of the 'hunters' as Chris called them, and some infected. The zombies were nothing too difficult for the two to handle, but the hunters had been cutting their ammo supply pretty quickly. For as calm and collected as they both seemed there was a definite tension growing inside of them.

Letting out a breath Chris held up a hand and motioned for Eliza to stop for a moment.

"We're just walking in circles. Honestly we need to think for a moment, try to find a map, or try and get some idea to where we are going."

Eliza couldn't deny what he was suggesting. She knew as well as he did that they weren't going to do anything more than wander in circles if they didn't come up with some sort of plan, and she couldn't deny how tired she was beginning to feel. They both took a moment to examine the large open room that the hallway had emptied into. It was Chris who came across the unlocked door, on the other end of the vast empty space.

Turning the knob and gently pushing the door open, he readied his Beretta and Eliza came up behind him, cautiously walking into the room. The light filtering in through the hallway had illuminated enough of the room for them to realize that they had just walked into a treasure trove. Lowering her gun slowly, with a stunned look, Eliza reached her free hand over to click on the light switch bathing the room in the bright white light of the overhead fluorescents.

There before them, was a medical supply room, filled to the brim with well stocked metal shelving units. Chris widened his eyes and stepped tentatively into the room. As much as they both wanted to revel in their finding, they knew they had to still be cautious, and with good reason. Not long into their discovery, they heard the moans from the back corner of the room, hidden behind a couple of shelves. The zombie wasn't much for them to handle; in fact, one quick shot from Chris sent the decrepit creature falling back dead.

Without hesitation Eliza snatched a bag off a nearby shelf and began stuffing it to the brim. There were bottles of antiseptic, rolls of gauze, individually sealed needles, and sprays for everything from burns to infections. She slid bottles of aspirin and vials filled with liquid anti infectives into the bag, and even grabbed splints for all different parts of the body.

As the bag began to fill up she found herself feeling more comfortable with their current situation. With these supplies they were basically a walking pharmacy, almost anything they may be inflicted with could be managed. They obviously didn't have the expertise to perform surgery, but they did have all the supplies to do it. She even managed to find a set of sutures and needles. By the time she had finished and handed the heavy bag off to Chris, she had cleared out over half the supplies.

"This should last us quite a while. Although I appreciate your line of thinking, I hope to shit we don't need all this." Chris said as he through the bag over his shoulder.

The bag itself settled well against his body, its dirty canvas had stains that could have been blood, and a large red cross on its side. All that was left now was for them to find some place to secure themselves for the night. He was tired, and he could tell by looking at Eliza that she wasn't fairing much better than he was. Dealing with outbreaks was hard on anyone. Both mentally and physically and right now the two of them were feeling the effects.

Eliza herself looked like she had already gone through hell and back. Her eyes were underlined with heavy bags, and her curls were almost nothing more than limp tendrils hanging around her exhausted features. Chris was sure that he didn't seem much better and they needed to do something.

_Can't very well sleep in the hallway…_

He thought to himself as he gently urged Eliza to keep moving but her sudden hesitation made him turn his attention away from the doorway and back to his petite companion. Something had caught her attention near the far right corner of the room, and as Chris followed her gaze, he noticed something that had slipped his attention earlier. Tucked away near the back of the room, half hidden behind a fallen shelf was a work bench.

"Anything look familiar to you?" Eliza asked as she walked over to the station.

"Yeah…" Chris was stunned and it was clear by the tone in his voice.

Littered across the bench, were numerous different potted plants of varying colors and sizes. They had both seen these before, in and around the Arklay Mountains of Raccoon County. He watched as Eliza gently touched one of the leaves of the nearest green plant. Chris made his way toward her, and hoisted up the fallen shelf to gain access to an old computer monitor that was glowing brightly in the dimly lit corner.

Tapping the keyboard he watched the screen come fully to life, and manifesting before him, was the Umbrella logo. Clear as day the red and white insignia spun on screen before separating into segments and vanishing off the edges of the monitor, leaving behind a home screen with a couple of icons. Chris took hold of the mouse and clicked one of the files watching it open, and he scanned over the words written on screen.

"They were testing the plants, to try and extract the medicinal properties from them. Looks like they haven't been successful synthesizing them but they have figured out how to grow them in different environments." He glanced over his shoulder at Eliza who was making her way toward him.

"So Umbrella is involved… Do you think they're working under an alias? Or do you think maybe these are old files?"

Chris shrugged and clicked on the next icon. To his surprise he was greeted with a video feed of a jungle. He blinked and looked at Eliza with confusion. They must be somewhere in the tropics, perhaps this was a security feed of the outside of the facility.

_That can't be right… Why would there be a security feed in a research lab…?_

As he scanned the live feed trying to figure out what he was seeing he took a slap to the shoulder by Eliza who pointed suddenly to the lower corner of the screen.

"Look Chris… there's someone there. Quick pan the camera, you should be able to move it with the keyboard."

Chris nodded and shakily the camera turned to focus on two people making their way through the brush. For a moment Chris had a hard time trying to figure out if they were more survivors, or if they were workers in the facility. There was a male and a female, both heavily armed, and half hidden from view by the thick greenery that was overtaking the little camera. He kept it trained on them as best he could, and for a moment he had thought he lost them as they vanished into foliage.

With a quick recalculation by Eliza he relocated them, as they stepped out into a clearing. Eliza quickly zoomed in on the figures before they had the chance to disappear again, and she heard Chris make a suddenly stressed out noise. Turning to see what the problem was, she found him staring wide eyed at the pair on screen.

"Claire…." His voice came out in a hushed whisper, so quiet Eliza wasn't even sure she had heard him at all.

"Claire? Is that your sister? You mentioned earlier that you thought she might be here"

He nodded and quickly tapped the screen.

"Can you find out where this is?" he asked, his voice now bordering on frantic.

"Yeah just give me a sec." Eliza slid in front of the monitor and began filtering through different screens until a virtual map popped up. There was a small room on the monitor blinking in blue, and Eliza could only assume that was there location, and in the center of the map there was a rather large open space on the map that was blinking in red. "This is where we are. We need to get here." She tapped the screen lightly and slapped a print button. "At least now we have a plan right?"

Chris nodded, still staring at the screen, they were finally getting somewhere. He could see clearly that Claire was alive, and she looked unharmed, and that was more than enough motivation for him. Before Eliza had even snatched the page off the printer, Chris was headed out of the room, pausing just long enough for her to catch up.

_Hang in there Claire. I'm coming for you…_

"I don't like it anymore then you do, but I don't think we have any other choice Nick. This way is a dead end, and it looks like the only way out of this wing is through that… jungle thing."

Nick was vacantly aware of Claire's logic as he stared out at the image of London that moved and lived below him. He knew she was right after all. They had spent all day trying to find a way around the jungle, but all they _managed_ to find was a collapsed staircase and a lot of dead ends and hallways. Too many times, they managed to find their way back to this very office.

They did however find a couple vending machines, and have themselves something to eat. He wouldn't dare suggest it was as good as that reuben he had been looking forward to all day, but at least his stomach wasn't growling anymore. And Claire seemed to enjoy the moment of relaxation, and soda. But unfortunately their sugar high was beginning to wear off, and Nick knew they were going to have to get a move on sooner rather than later.

"You're right…" He sighed inwardly and put on a large grin before turning to face her. He hated making people worry, and he really hated when people panicked. He knew this girl wasn't a soldier like him, but she was Chris Redfield's sister, and that meant she could keep her head. And so far she had done a good job of it. Oddly enough the only thing that had bothered her at all was walking into one dark room and coming face to face with some cobwebs and a rather large daddy long leg. Claire hadn't liked that much, but Nick had a difficult time keeping a straight face. Of all the things for this chick to be concerned about and she screams over a cobweb.

_Fucking women… I'll never understand them_

He kept the grin on his features and rubbed his hands together in front of him, as if he were trying to warm them up. With a quick crack of the neck, and a rather disgusted look from Claire, he headed off toward the door, for the fifth time today.

Claire had no hesitation following him, and as she did she checked her hand gun, they were both half empty on the back up clips they had found, and if they didn't find something else soon they were going to be in bigger trouble than they were now. He knew the concerns, and he was certainly aware that their lack of ammunition was going to be a huge issue while trekking through the jungle. They would need to be silent, and if that parrot did figure out where they were, they would never manage to kill it with the shit ammo they had now.

"Let's go…" He pushed the thoughts to the back of his mind, and began focusing on the job at hand. Basically all he needed to worry about was getting through the jungle with both of them in one piece, and out of this fucking hell hole.

"Nick… is something bothering you?" Claire's voice broke into his thoughts and he turned to her with raised eyebrows.

"What?"

"Something's bothering you. You seem distracted."

_Distracted… Can't afford that Park…_

"I'm fine it's just…" He hesitated letting his hands fall to his sides, and Claire's soft yet encouraging look urged him to explain. "I can't stop thinking about why we're here… This Girard… I can't shake the fact that I know that name somehow, but I can't think of where I would know it from."

Claire nodded, and gave him a sympathetic look.

"She could be anyone. You work with the BSAA maybe she was on their radar for something and you saw her in a file." She suggested.

It was of course a possibility, but for some reason he didn't think it was as simple as that.

As the humidity and heat began to rise, he held a hand up to Claire, and placed his index finger against his lips. They were close enough now to elicit caution and his military instincts kicked in like a light switch. He had no need to dip his body down, but found himself doing so anyway, what made him nervous was that the Parrot thing was nowhere to be seen. Startling it wouldn't be the ideal plan, but moving too slow would keep them there long enough for it to figure out they were passing through.

They were in a catch twenty-fucking-two and Nick was beginning to grow anxious as they took their first cautious steps into the underbrush. Once again, the familiar and welcome smell of the tropics filled his senses, and he was able to forget for a moment that he was in a zombie infested hell hole. He stepped off the path and motioned for Claire to follow. He wasn't sure where it was that they would come out, or even if the jungle dumped out anywhere besides the way Claire had come into it earlier, but he knew they needed to try.

With Claire in tow the two began making their way through the thick foliage, as quietly and as quickly as they could. Nick was quite impressed with the girl's ability to keep pace with him, and remain just as silent, but his satisfaction was cut short by the rustling of wings not too far ahead.

_Keep your head about you Park… _

He held his fist up and Claire stopped walking, with a concerned look on her face. Peering into the bushes ahead, Nick lowered his body into a prone position and motioned to Claire to wait where she was. As she ducked down and settled herself into the tall grass, with her handgun ready, Nick Parker began to crawl as silently as he could.

He wanted to see where the parrot was, before he took her any further then he had too. Once he had crawled a few feet, and after a moment or two of searching, he finally spotted the thing. Perching high up on a thick branch, was where it sat, preening itself as if nothing were out of the ordinary. Nick watched it a moment, taking the time to examine it. The large bird was just as freaky as he remembered it being, and Nick found this growing nausea in the pit of his stomach. Before he gave himself enough time to actually vomit, he backed toward Claire and pointed off to their left.

The girl nodded and followed without question, and after a few yards the two came out into a clearing. From somewhere high above them, he could hear what sounded like a mechanical buzzing. Almost like a hydraulic, moving around. Claire had noticed it too and after an exchange of confused glances, they both began scanning to find what was making the sound.

Nick had heard something like that before; in fact the sound was so common he felt like he had almost pushed it out of his mind. Something that was so common place in his day to day life, that the sound of it was almost jarring in a place like this. He frowned as his mind tried to come up with the common solution but found nothing helpful.

That was until he felt Claire gently tap his shoulder. Nick nearly jumped out of his skin, much to the silent amusement of female Redfield. She grinned at him, and pointed to a corner of the room, high above their heads. Sitting there, gently panning back and forth was a security camera. The way that it moved, told Nick that it had to be manually operated and he found himself waving at it in silence. The camera stopped moving, and Nick sighed, with a frown.

"Come on" he said as quietly as possible, and headed off away from the parrot, and out into another hallway.

Nick took a moment to check both directions before holstering his gun and turning to look at his companion.

"Was this the hallway you came from?" He asked her

Claire shook her head slightly, and took another look around, just to be sure. "No… The hall I came from wasn't like this one. It was all white."

This hall was anything but white. The walls were painted a deep chocolate colored brown, and the carpet was a deep red oriental pattern, that seemed out of place in a building like this. Nick had never seen anything like it. To him it looked….

_Victorian…._ _shit…._

Victorian it was. Everything from the wall decorations, to the strange end tables and display cases that lined the hall screamed of the time period. Nick felt utterly out of place, and as his eyes fell on Claire, he could see that she felt just as lost as he did. Only…

_No…. she doesn't look lost. She looks….. Terrified._

"Claire, you alright?"

The girl turned slowly, her eyes wide and a look of shock on her face. She didn't say anything at first; she just stared at him as if she were trying to find the right thing to say. Or perhaps she couldn't find anything to say at all. After a moment or two Nick made his way over to her, and took a hold of her arm.

"Claire."

"I'm fine… It just reminds me of Raccoon City's Police Station" She said after a long moment of silence.

Nick could understand that. He had never been in Raccoon at all but from the way Jill had described it, it seemed like this was a pretty accurate description. He didn't have too much time to enjoy the view though before a disembodied female voice clicked onto an overhead speaker system. Nick snatched his handgun and pointed it at the ceiling, out of reflex.

"Access to the exit elevator will be granted momentarily. Please be patient while the lift is brought to the appropriate floor."

"Exit elevator…?" Claire whispered and broke off into a sprint toward the end of the hall.

Nick followed close behind, took the right, where the hallway bent and slid to a stop behind Claire. Standing in front of them was a large elevator bay door. It was closed, but the indicator lights above it, told them that it was only three floors away.

_Ding…_

He raised his gun, and prepared for what may come off the elevator after them.

_Ding…_

Claire took a step back and raised her own Beretta, with a deep scowl on her face.

_Ding…. Shwoosh….._

The elevator doors opened, revealing nothing out of the ordinary. After exchanging quick glances, the two stepped inside and the doors slid closed behind them.

_Another dead end…._

Leon sighed, and came to a sluggish stop as he rounded another corner that lead to nowhere. It was the third dead end they had come across in the last few hours and Leon was beginning to feel like they were going to be stuck in this hallway for the rest of eternity. He was tired, and hungry, and they were terrifyingly low on ammo. All they had were a half a dozen bullets between the two of them and a combat knife that Leon kept in his tactical vest.

"Jill we're going in circles"

Turning away from the wall Leon ejected the clip in his Matilda and looked at the two bullets remaining. They were screwed. No ammo left, no way of knowing where they were, and no end in sight for this nightmare. He was beginning to get a head ache.

"Let's try that door again. Maybe we can get it open and hunker down for the night." Jill suggested motioning back the way they had come.

It was worth a shot. In fact anything sounded good to him at this point as long as it didn't involve finding anymore dead ends. He had been in situations like this before but it never got easier to deal with. He just wanted to be at home, sitting in his apartment watching the news about some other schmuck getting stuck doing a shitty thing like this.

_Now _that's_ wishful thinking_

He took in a breath and followed behind Jill as she headed back down the hallway, to a locked door that they had come across a few minutes earlier. She paused as they came to an intersection and she turned to look at him. It was the first time he had realized that she looked about as bad as he felt. Her blue eyes were outlined with dark heavy circles, and her hair had long since freed itself from its elastic. The blonde locks were now cascading down from under her hat, and made a new home draped around her shoulders. She met his gaze and the two shared a sigh.

"Do you remember which way we came from?"

Leon looked passed her and jogged ahead to glance down the hallway. The honest answer was no, he did not remember which way they had come from. He frowned and looked left then right, and he made a face as he noticed no distinguishing features down either direction.

"Well we have a fifty-fifty shot, so let's pick one and see how it goes." He said and headed down the hall.

"I wonder what time it is…" Jill said from behind him.

He glanced over his shoulder at her and tried his best to seem light hearted. "Not sure, but it can't be too late. We've probably been wandering for only a few hours now."

Even as he said it he had a hard time believing it. It had felt like the two had been wandering around for days. With no windows or clocks, he had to rely on his body to help him gauge the time, and if he were to be perfectly honest, his body wasn't being very helpful. In fact it was being anything _but_ helpful; all it was doing was reminding him that he hadn't eaten all day.

"Think you can break that open?" Jill's voice broke him out of his concentration and he turned his attention to where she was looking.

Tucked off into the wall were two old vending machines. The lights were no longer working, and one of them had a large crack down the front of it, but it was clear that they still had stuff in them. The normal variety that vending machines should have, looked back at them through the plastic, almost taunting them. He shook his head and made his way over to the machine with the crack running down the front. Taking his fingers, he traced along the rough edge and was pleased to feel that the thick plastic had separated enough for him to wedge the edge of his knife in.

He pulled the knife out if its holder and jammed the tip into the crack. Taking the heel of his hand he gently hammered the blade into position. He glanced over at Jill and gave her a lopsided smile. She nodded at him, and turned her gun down the hallway to keep her eye on anything coming at them. He took a tight grip on the hilt and with a hard jerk he began trying to pop the plastic open. He could feel it give a little and that made him a bit more hopeful. He jerked again and heard the plastic moan in protest and with a sudden jolt he felt the panel pop out of place enough to get his fingers into the crack.

Thankful he was wearing gloves he pulled the knife out with one hand and dropped it on the floor before grabbing the panel with his other hand. He pulled hard, straining the muscles in his arms and back. Propping his boot against the edge of the machine to give him more leverage he pulled again, and after a moment or two he felt the thick plastic finally give and wretch itself free of its casing.

Letting go of the plastic, he let it fall to the floor with a thump and grabbed a bag out of the now opened machine and tossed them to Jill. She caught it, and pried it open with a grin.

"I don't even eat potato chips, but right now I'll take anything."

Leon nodded and grabbed his own. Pulling the crinkling bag apart, he took in a deep breath, enjoying the smell of starch and salt. Lifting one up he brought it to his lips and paused a moment.

_Great… Now what…_

A soft moan floated down the hallway towards them. He looked at Jill who was already aiming her gun down the long hall.

"And here I was thinking we were about to enjoy a nice peaceful meal" He stated as he dropped his own bag onto the floor.

He turned quickly and scooped his knife off the floor. If they were just infected, he didn't need to waste the ammo on them. The first of the zombies shambled into view. The lower half of its jaw was missing, and a dark gooey liquid dripped down the front of his chest. He shuffled toward them, slowly at first, before breaking out into an awkward run.

Jill gripped her gun, but Leon gently pushed her arms down. He took a few steps ahead of her and held his knife tightly in his hand. As the creature gained momentum Leon tensed and brought his right leg around hard, connecting with the zombies head and knocking it against the wall. Turning with a quick pivot, he rammed the blade of the knife into the eye socket of the infected. With a squelch it slumped to the floor, and Leon pulled his knife out and wiped it on the front of his vest.

"We can't waste our ammo on infected. We're going to have to take them out quickly and quietly."

Jill blinked a moment but nodded.

"Guess I'm going to have to find another weapon"

Leon made his way over to his bag and lifted it gently off the floor. Somehow he wasn't hungry anymore. He grabbed an unopened bag out of the machine and shoved it into one of the pockets of his vest. With a jerk of his head he made his way back down the hallway, stepping over the dead infected and within moments was back in front of the locked door they had been trying to reach in the first place.

"I can pick locks. Let me try and see if I can get it open"

Leon turned and furrowed his eyebrows for a moment, but decided not to ask how she had acquired that sort of skill. If she could get them into that room, then he didn't give a damn _how_ she learned it. He took a step aside, and let her get over to the door. She crouched down in front of it, and took a small leather bag out of one of her pockets. Flipping it open, Leon could see a variety of metal picks of different lengths and thicknesses.

"Before I became a cop, my father used to be a thief. He taught me how to break into things. When he was finally caught and sent to prison he told me that I needed to make something of my life. I needed to do something good with my skills. He told me he didn't want me to end up wasting my life, like he did."

Leon looked at her as she spoke and he found himself, feeling as though he should say something to her.

"So that's why you joined S.T.A.R.S."

She turned and glanced at him with a nod, before going back to picking the lock.

"Yeah. They had an opening, and when I told them about my skills, they decided I could be useful and so they didn't ask any questions. Can I ask you something?" She didn't turn to look at him, but he nodded just the same.

"Yeah sure."

"How did you know my name? I never told you my last name before, yet you knew who I was."

Leon sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "Well for one thing I know Chris Redfield. And for another, I read your file from the BSAA."

Jill stopped and spun around to look at him "You know Chris? So it is you. You're Leon Kennedy."

He nodded. He didn't need to ask her how she knew him; it was obvious that she would have heard about him through either Chris or Claire. It did make him wonder though, whether the partner she had mentioned earlier, was indeed Chris Redfield.

She had gone back to her lock picking and after a few moments of silence, she grinned and tipped the handle of the door down and watched it gently swing open.

"And we're in." She turned and gave him a grin, but paused as he looked passed her into the open doorway.

He was already headed into the room. What he saw made him take pause. The room was filled with monitors surrounding a large rounded desk. Lining the walls along the sides of the room, were weapons lockers and cases of perfectly good ammo.

"Jackpot." He mumbled to himself as he picked up one of the boxes of ammo and began filling the clip from his Matilda. Jill was behind him in an instant copying his movements. He pulled open one of the nearest lockers and found three AKMSU assault rifles. He felt himself light up as the familiar gun looked back at him. He lifted it off its hooks and held it in his hands. It felt very comfortable, sitting naturally in his hands. He had been trained with this very style of weapon, and the comfortable grip felt natural.

He quickly attached the guns sling, and strung the weapon over his back, before pulling out a second one and tossing it to Jill.

"Here. Looks like we're back on the winning side."

She nodded at him and began gathering clips of both assault rifle ammo, and handgun ammo just as Leon was doing. Now that the two were fully stocked with ammo, and new weapons it was time to find some place to hunker down for the night. Leon headed over to one of the corners of the room, and stopped as a monitor caught his attention. Looking at it, he was surprised to see a live feed of what appeared to be a panic room.

"Jill look."

She followed his gaze and raised her eyebrows at the screen.

"Think we can get there? Looks secure, and it is stocked well"

Leon nodded and pulled up a map to outline the way there.

_Looks like another long night…._

Eliza took a tentative step onto the jungle path and held her handgun level. With a glance over her shoulder at Chris, she moved passed some low hanging vines and vanished into the underbrush. It was far more massive than the two of them had expected. She had never expected to find anything like this in a facility that had appeared to be as sterile as an operating room. She heard Chris come up behind her and she glanced at him again before looking around her.

"We are never going to find them in here." He said "Not like this."

Eliza let out a sigh, as she spun in a tight circle looking around at her surroundings. The forest was thick, so much so that it was hard to see anything more than a few feet in front of her. She was amazed that they had spotted the two on camera at all. Her guess what that they were using this area to grow the different types of plants they had seen in the security room.

"We're going to have to split up." Eliza said, as she turned her full attention to Chris.

He looked tired, but oddly enough Eliza noticed that even though he looked ready to fall asleep, he was still alert. His eyes scanned the area around them, and his movements were deliberate. He was certainly sharp, something that came from years of military training. She gave him a small smile and put a hand on his shoulder.

Eliza could see that he was worried about his sister. Part of her wondered if that was the real reason he was pushing on the way he was. The determination to find Claire was all he needed to keep pushing forward.

"Split up?" He gave her a skeptical look "I don't know Eliza…"

She held up a hand to stop him and she shook her head.

"Chris it's the only way we're going to search this whole place. We don't have a choice." She lowered her gun and frowned at him. "I know you want to find her, but the only way to do that is to split up."

Chris scowled at the idea, and Eliza was beginning to grow impatient. She knew that she needed to keep her head out here, and she was well aware of the fact that splitting up and going through the jungle alone was probably not the best idea. The last thing she wanted was to be by herself out here, but she knew that with the size of the botanical garden, they would never cover the entire thing if they stayed together.

"We don't have a choice. I'll head to the waterfall, you head back through there. We don't have time to argue about this. If you want to find your sister this is the only way. We stick to the edge of the tree line, and loop around. Once we meet on the other side we can cut back through the middle and see if we can find any sign of where they may have gone. No more stalling Chris." With that Eliza spun on the ball of her foot and headed off toward the waterfall.

She didn't give him time to argue instead she just turned and left him there. It wasn't in her nature to cater to the emotions of the people she was working with. She had a job to do, and her time with the task force had taught her that when you tried to work around everyone's emotions, you ended up walking in circles. You couldn't please everyone.

The rushing sound of running water was growing louder as she made her way deeper into the underbrush. She followed it, until she came to a river that ran through the center of the garden. It was a couple feet wide, and not very deep. By the look of it she estimated that it wouldn't come up higher than her thighs. With a breath, and a quick check around her she stepped into the fast flowing river.

Her leg sunk into the water and the icy liquid rushed into the top of her boot making her take in a sharp breath. Holding her gun in her hand to keep it from getting wet, she brought her other leg in and found that the water came to just above her knee. Thankfully it was not any higher, because if it had been she would have had a very difficult time making her way across. She took her first steps into the water, and paused as something on the other side of the river caught her attention. She could see what looked like the lower half of a body, sticking out from behind a thicket of ferns.

Eliza picked up the pace, praying she didn't need to tell Chris that his sister was dead. As she reached the bank and pulled herself out of the water she realized that the body she was seeing was not a whole body at all. At one point it could have been one of the infected, but by the time Eliza had found it, there was little left to give her any sort of indication. The buzzing of flies blanketed the area, and the stench of dead flesh hit her hard enough to make her jerk her head away and tuck it under her arm.

_What the hell…_

She pulled the collar of her shirt over her mouth and nose, and looked again at the lower torso. She holstered her gun, and traded it for a nearby stick and rolled the half of body to examine where the chest should have been attached. The flesh was jagged and torn, as if something had simply ripped the thing in two. Eliza was beginning to get a bad feeling in the pit of her stomach, and it wasn't from looking at the dead body in front of her. What she was beginning to get worried about, was what could be big enough to simply rip a human in half.

She used the stick to move a chunk of flesh out of the way to examine the broken spinal cord. It was in the same shape as the skin and muscle around it. The break wasn't clean; it was shattered, and crushed. If the body had been found in a different part of the facility Eliza could have guessed that it had been crushed by a door, or something heavy landing on him. Out here however, there was no sign that anything around here had done this.

Eliza rested in a crouched position, letting her forearms relax on her knees. She scowled as she tried to piece this puzzle together. She looked around her before pulling her shirt down off her face. By now, she was used to the smell, and her shirt wasn't doing much to stop it anyway. Her eyes fell on the ground near the body and she spotted a dark stain in the dirt a few feet away. From where she was positioned, it looked like it could have been water from the river, but the distance from the bank would have made it difficult, if not impossible. She got to her feet, and made her way over before she bent and gently touched the wet spot and examined her fingers.

_Blood… What happened here?_

She looked around again, and found another blood stain, yet a few more feet from the first. This puzzle was beginning to take an interesting turn. As she followed the trail of sporadic blood stains she travelled deeper and deeper into the thick trees and bushes. It was beginning to get more difficult to spot the trail, and she was starting to worry that she may lose it.

A rustling in the trees ahead of her made her jump and pull out her Beretta. She listened around her for another sign that she wasn't alone, but as she stood there things went silent again. The sound did however pull her attention over to a rather large looking tree ahead of her, near where the next splotch of blood should be. Her eyes trailed up the tree and she was oddly not very surprised to find the top half of the torso hanging off one of the thick branches.

Eliza scanned the tree before walking toward it. She could see where the blood from the torso had pooled at the base, dripping down the trunk like red sap. She made a face and walked toward it gently putting a hand on the trunk. She scanned for a way to reach the top, and traced her fingers along the rough bark. She found a handhold, pulled herself up and began climbing up the side of the tree. It wasn't long before she had a hold of a branch, and was pulling herself into what looked like a giant nest. She froze in place and looked around. She looked passed the body and her eyes fell on a set of eggs, sitting toward the back.

Although the prospect of examining the top portion of the body interested her, she had already seen enough to know what had happened. The size of the eggs, had told her enough. She could see that whatever was going to hatch out of those eggs was going to grow into quite a large creature.

_This would explain how the body got ripped in two…_

Her curiosity got the best of her and she made her way carefully over to the body. She made sure not to disturb the eggs or anything in the nest as she dropped down to look at the top part of the torso. The features on the face were mangled beyond recognition, and looked more like a bludgeoned piece of fruit then an actual face. She quickly checked out the jagged half of the body, and she could see it looked just like the first half she had found. The spine was crushed and torn in the same fashion, and the flesh surrounding it was just as shredded.

_Russshhh…_

Eliza spun on a heel and brought up her gun. Something had moved in the nest behind her and she wasn't sure that she really wanted to meet whatever it could be. She shifted her eyes to the edge of the nest to try and calculate how she was going to get down without alerting whatever was up there with her. She took a sideways step toward her escape route, but stopped as another rustle followed by a moan took her attention. She glanced back in time to see one of the zombies drag itself out from behind one of the eggs. Its jaw hung limp and half of his face was missing. One of its arms was clearly broken, but it didn't seem to bother the zombie who managed to drag himself across the nest at a remarkable speed.

She didn't waste any time. She turned and took off to the edge, where she had first climbed up in the first place. It wasn't the infected that had her moving so fast she just knew she had over stayed her welcome. If it wasn't the zombie that had crawled out at her it may have been the mother or father of whatever called that nest home. As Eliza swung her legs over the edge and began to lower herself down, she kept her ears trained on the angry moans coming from the zombie above her.

She missed her last foothold and slipped the last couple of feet of the trunk and landed on her back looking up at the nest. The zombies head poked out and was soon followed by the rest of him, plummeting down at her. She rolled out of the way and curled her body up into the fetal position to guard her from anything the zombie may have brought down with him. She heard the squelching sound as his body hit the ground, and she felt things lightly pelt her in the back.

Eliza pulled herself to her feet and pointed her gun at the zombie but there was little more to him then a pool of his own fluids. She holstered her gun and let out a breath before heading off to find Chris. By now he was probably on the other side of the garden and wondering where she was.

_No doubt in a panic…_

She took off at a jog to meet up with Chris. He needed to know about the nest, and what it was that could be living out here. There was no sign of Claire or the guy she was seen with on the monitor and although Eliza was hoping that Chris had found something that would help calm his nerves; she did know that no sign was still better than a bad sign.

"Chris!" She gasped as she came into the clearing, and spotted him just a few feet away.

Chris turned to face her and instantly dropped the medical bag, grabbing her by the shoulders and checking her over.

"What happened?! You're covered in blood. Are you hurt? Did you get attacked?"

Eliza held up a hand to stop him and shook her head.

"It's not my blood, look I had a zombie… uh… drop in on me." She said still catching her breath. She had to appreciate how much she sounded like Leon.

Chris reached into one of his pouches and pulled out a few spent bullet casings.

"These aren't from us. I found them not too far from here, they must belong to Claire." He said, but frowned again as he looked at Eliza. "What's wrong? You have this look on your face. Are you sure you aren't hurt?"

She rolled her eyes at him almost annoyed with the questions.

"I promise, I'm not hurt but you need to know what's out here. I found a nest with eggs."

Chris raised an eyebrow. "And?"

"The eggs were the size of basketballs Chris. And whatever lives in that nest is big enough to rip a zombie in half."

Chris took in a breath and looked passed Eliza as if he were trying to see whatever it was that she was talking about.

"I don't think Claire is here anymore. Besides these I didn't find anything to indicate that she had been here for a while, and I certainly haven't found any sort of trail to follow."

Eliza nodded and ejected the clip from her handgun to count her ammo.

"Why are you wet?"

Eliza blinked and turned to Chris who was now looking her up and down. He had a strange look on his face, like he was trying to solve a word problem.

"It's a long story." She said.

Chris folded his arms across his chest and raised his eyebrow for the second time.

"I crossed the river and found a zombie ripped in half. I followed a blood trail to the tree with the nest and I climbed up to check it out. Inside I saw eggs and another infected. I climbed down and it fell out of the nest after me and pretty much exploded when it hit the ground. Happy now?" her tone of voice was a bit tense. They didn't have time to be going through this right now.

Chris let out a sigh and suddenly wrapped his arms around her petite frame. Eliza blinked in surprise but soon relaxed in his grip, gently patting him on the back. He didn't say anything and neither did she. Eliza knew what was running through his head, and why he seemed so worried about splitting up with her in the first place. It was clear to her that he was more than just a nice guy. She could see that Chris was one of those people that would do anything to keep someone else safe.

"Chris it's going to be fine we'll fi-"

"Attention."

Eliza stopped and looked up at the ceiling. The speaker system chimed out in a crisp female voice. Her British accent reminded Eliza of the type of generic announcements you would hear in a hospital.

"Nightly system shut down will begin in fifteen minutes. All unauthorized personnel please report to the dormitories for lights out security protocol. Repeat: Nightly system shut down will begin in fifteen minutes. All unauthorized personnel please report to the dormitories for lights out security protocol."

Chris and Eliza exchanged glances. Although they had heard a message from Girard herself when they were first brought to this place, the message they were hearing this time was very different. This was automated, and not directed at anyone in particular like the first message.

"Lights out?" Chris mumbled.

"What worries me is 'security protocol.'" Eliza said looking back at him.

Without wasting any more time the two broke out into a run, heading back out of the jungle the same way they had come in. They needed to get out of the hallways before the lights shut down or they would have a difficult time dealing with those hunter things. The damned things were hard enough to worry about when the lights were _on_ forget when they were plunged in total darkness.

"We have to get back to a secure room." Eliza yelled over her shoulder.

Chris nodded and moved passed her to one of the doorways that lead back to the main hallways. He threw open the door and the two were plunged into the familiar stark white halls they had left only a couple hours ago.

_Bing…_

Claire stood ready as she watched the numbers above the elevator click up the chain. She held her gun tightly in her hands and kept it trained on the double doors.

_Bing…_

"You really think that's necessary? I mean what do you think is going to happen?" Parker asked her as he leaned casually against the inside wall of the elevator.

_Bing…_

"Trust me; I've been in this situation before. You would be surprised at the things I've had jump out at me while I was on an elevator."

_Bing… Whoosh…_

Claire spun fast toward the door and leveled her gun as they slid apart. She stepped out cautiously and swung her gun from side to side. Nick had followed close behind her and had made sure to cover her back as she checked the room. What they found was a large circular area, with the same white walls and floors.

The only difference Claire noted was that in here everything seemed almost brighter than it had in the other hallways. The lights here were so bright that there was no place for shadow to hide what was lurking in the room. To their surprise and relief there was nothing lurking in the room at all; nothing except for a large double door at the far end of the room.

Claire stopped to check out the door and as she approached it she was halted by a mechanical hum. Nick spun around at the sound and brought up his gun but, the two could only stare in amazement at what they were seeing. Flanking the door were six panels rising out of the ground on hydraulic lifts. Three on the left and three on the right. At first Claire thought they were key pads, but as they locked into place she could see that instead they were flat and grey.

She frowned and turned to Nick with a look of confusion on her face.

_The key…_

"Nick do you have a key?" She asked suddenly.

Nick blinked and pat down his pockets. "Uh… No?"

"When Girard spoke to us this morning, she mentioned something about a key. Something about us each having one, do you remember?"

Nick nodded slowly and followed Claire toward one of the panels.

"So what do you think they are? There's no number keys, no slots for key cards…" He looked the machine up and down and saw nothing that seemed even the least bit helpful. "I don't know Claire I don't think these do anything."

Claire wasn't so sure. She looked at one and frowned. She had seen something like this before, but she couldn't remember if it was in Raccoon City, or Rockfort Island. But where ever it was she knew she had seen it somewhere. She ran a finger along the soft grey, and nearly jumped as a screen built in next to it sprung to life.

"Welcome Claire Redfield. Please place your hand flat against the panel for key code entry."

Claire looked at Nick and at the same time the two pressed the palms of their hands against the pads in front of them. The systems rang out in unison welcoming them both. The screen in front of Claire lit up with a photo of her, and her vitals all displayed. She looked over at Parker who seemed to be as shocked as she was.

"We are the keys…" He said in a quiet far away voice.

"They're not only here to check who we are, they're here to check if we're alive. All six of us need to be here to open these doors." Claire said. She opened her mouth to speak again, but stopped as a voice rang out from the monitor in front of her.

"System locked. Not enough panels in operation."

Claire jumped as a humming sound came from behind her and she spun, pulling her hand off the panel and grabbing her gun. Nick was doing the same, and the two shared a quick glance before turning their full attention to the wall on the east of the room that was quite literally sliding up into the ceiling. Behind the blast doors, were thick glass walls.

They heard the wall on the west end of the room come to life as well, and Nick spun to watch it. Beyond the glass was darkness, so black it was impossible to see what was beyond the walls. Nick lowered his gun and walked over to one of the glass panels. Claire followed him and watched as he cupped his hand and tried to peer through into the other room.

"Can you see anything?" She asked.

_Whirrrrr…_

Nick jumped back as the lights on the other side of the glass, whirred to life nearly blinding him. Claire was on alert as well, bringing up her gun and jumping back to cover her new partner, but as she registered what she was seeing behind the glass wall, she found herself slowly letting her handgun fall to her sides.

"What the hell is that?" Nick asked in shock.

"Lickers…" Claire whispered.

She stood in shock as dozens of the creatures crawled around inside the box like bugs trapped inside a cup. They were making their way across the walls, and floor, and ceilings. They moved on all fours, large claws making up the front hands and their skin looked like they had been turned inside out. Their brain had been exposed during the experimenting process, and had grown over the eyes rendering them blind.

"Claire… what is a licker?" Nick asked, backing away from the glass.

She glanced at him a moment before turning her attention back to the lickers behind the glass. "Well they used to be just normal infected. From what we figured out, some humans have the ability to bond with the virus. It mutates the cells so much that they begin changing. They become lickers."

"And why do they call them lickers?" He asked as the two made their way back to the elevator slowly.

One of the lickers opened his mouth and let his tongue flicker out, extending the length of a dining room table. It swung back and forth a few times, like a snake would before retracting back into the body.

"That's why." She said as she pushed the elevator button. They're blind, but their sense of hearing is beyond remarkable. If they get out of those cages, we better pray that we can keep quiet."

_Bing…_

Claire turned and looked at the glass, but the lickers beyond didn't seem to notice that their elevator had come up. The door slid open and the two stepped inside to begin their descent. They would need everyone with them in order to operate the panels and get the hell out of this place.

_Hang on Chris… Just a little while longer…_

"Attention: Nightly system shut down will begin in fifteen minutes. All unauthorized personnel please report to the dormitories for lights out security protocol. Repeat: Nightly system shut down will begin in fifteen minutes. All unauthorized personnel please report to the dormitories for lights out security protocol"

Claire looked around the elevator before making eye contact with Nick. They were officially running out of time. Claire had no idea what any of that meant, but she had heard enough of those cryptic messages in her day to know that she needed to heed that warning.

"We need to get out of here and get to somewhere safe." She said as she watched the elevator count down the floors. "We are going to have to get inside somewhere."

The elevator doors slid open with a rush of air and Parker grabbed Claire's arm.

"This way." He tugged her along behind him quietly, and the two made their way down the hall to the office they had camped out in earlier that day.

"Attention: Nightly system shut down will begin in ten minutes. All unauthorized personnel please report to the dormitories for lights out security protocol. Repeat: Nightly system shut down will begin in ten minutes. All unauthorized personnel please report to the dormitories for lights out security protocol"

Jill panted as she ran along behind Leon. He had a grip on her hand and he was tugging her along through the corridors trying to find somewhere to hide themselves before the timer was up. They had been wandering for over a half an hour before the announcement had come over the system and there was no way to make it back to the security room before the system locked down. They were screwed.

Leon came to a sudden stop in front of her, and Jill nearly ran into him. She looked passed him and standing there, blocking the hallway were over a dozen infected. They were shambling towards them quietly almost methodically as if they were trying to be sneaky. Leon let go of her hand and took a step back before turning down a different hallway.

"Leon…" Jill whispered.

He didn't get far before he was faced with the same dilemma that they had just come from. Jill glanced back between the corridors and brought up her new assault rifle. She was suddenly happy that she had it. Leon was aimed with her, and the two opened fire on the hallway. They were both good shots and so it didn't take long for them to clear a path. The only problem Jill could see was the amount of noise they had created doing so.

"Let's go Leon."

Jill wasted no time heading down the hallway, stepping and hoping over the bodies that they had littered the hall with. Leon was keeping pace behind her. She could hear him breathing heavily but he didn't seem like he was having much difficulty.

"Attention: Nightly system shut down will begin in five minutes. All unauthorized personnel please report to the dormitories for lights out security protocol. Repeat: Nightly system shut down will begin in five minutes. All unauthorized personnel please report to the dormitories for lights out security protocol"

Jill's heart began to pound as the British woman reminded her that she was running out of time. They had no idea what was going to happen to them, but anything involving lights out was not something that they wanted to experience. She nearly lost her balance as she took a corner too fast, and she felt Leon grip her around the waist. He hauled her to her feet and they continued moving.

"Quick there's a door!" Jill shouted just as an alarm began blaring out of the speakers. If she wasn't freaking out just a few moments ago, she certainly was now.

_Seriously?!_

"Jill you have to pick that lock and get us in there" Leon said over the obnoxious alarm.

Jill slid on her knees to the door, and began to grab out her picks. Her hands were shaking as she jammed the first pick into the lock. She knew she needed to steady herself or she was never going to get the door unlocked. Between the alarms blaring and the sound of her own heart thumping in her chest she was beginning to question whether she was going to be able to pick the lock at all.

"No pressure or anything Jill, but the zombies are back."

He stood with his back to her, glancing over his shoulder at her. She noticed that his voice was oddly calm, as if he wasn't finding anything stressful about this situation. She envied him a little, and she was also reminded of Parker.

_Tat tat tat_

_Tat tat tat_

She could hear his Matilda rattling off shots behind her, and she was quickly losing her concentration. She wasn't used to picking locks under so much pressure and noise. Normally when she was picking something, she had limited time but at least things were quiet.

_Tat tat tat_

_Tat tat tat_

"Attention: One minute remaining. Security sweep will begin shortly. Repeat: One minute remaining. Security sweep will begin in shortly."

_Tat tat tat_

_Tat tat tat_

"Any day now Jill." Leon said as he continued to keep the hoard at bay

"I'm trying!" She snapped back

Leon glanced over his shoulder at her, and she shot him a look. She was stressed and with everything going on around her she was beginning to get annoyed. She felt a twinge of guilt for her reaction to him but she didn't have time to express it right now. She would say sorry later, but for the next couple of seconds she just needed to focus on what she was doing and tone everything else out.

_Come on Jilly. You can do this._

She closed her eyes and took in a deep breath. She pictured her father, and wondered how he would handle a situation like this. Her father, as she knew, would be calm. He would tell her something about how working under pressure just made things more exciting, and if you could work under pressure like this than you could work anywhere. She could do this. She was born to do this.

She felt the first pin click into place, and began quickly on the second.

"Jill…"

_Tat tat tat_

_Click_

Second pin in place. She began on the third pin.

"Thirty seconds to security sweep. Repeat: thirty seconds to security sweep."

The third pin locked into place. There were only two more pins to go and she had found her concentration. She hardly heard Leon urging her on from somewhere to her left. Instead she locked in on what she was doing, keeping her mind from allowing the noises around her. She felt the fourth pin lock into place and quickly began working on the fifth and final pin.

"Twenty seconds remaining."

_Tat tat tat_

"Come on Jill…"

She took her eyes off the lock for a second to glance at Leon who was still sounding oddly calm.

"Ten seconds remaining."

"Nine…"

"Eight…"

"Jill we have to go…"

"Six…"

"Got it!"

"Five…"

Jill threw the door open and the two dove inside. Leon pressed his boot against the thick metal and kicked it shut before jumping to his feet and looking around at the room they had stumbled into.

"Shit…" he mumbled.

"Security sweep beginning now. Prepare for lights out."

They weren't in a room at all. As Jill got to her feet and looked around, she was disappointed to see that the door she had just spent so much time breaking into lead them to nothing more than another hallway. She felt sick to her stomach.

"Well at least the zombies are out there." Leon said giving her a hopeful smile.

Jill opened her mouth to respond, but before she could get the words out they were bathed in darkness. The pair stood there a moment trying to adjust to their surroundings. Leon clicked the flashlight on his assault rifle and held the gun up so they could see down the hallway. Jill did the same, and the two began making their way slowly forward.

They didn't get far before they were greeted with a green light. It started at the far end of the hallway and began slowly making its way toward them. Jill glanced over her shoulder at the door behind them, but they both knew there was no sense in heading back. The security sweep was going to catch them no matter what they did at this point, and so the two of them tensed and waited.

"I sure hope this goes better then I expect it too" Leon mumbled.

The green light passed over them with little problem, the soft glow enveloped them for a second before passing by. They exchanged glances and began moving forward again. They didn't want to stick around long enough to find out what would happen when the security sweep discovered their location. They made their way to the end of the hall and became faced with their next dilemma.

"Unauthorized personnel detected. Please enter your identification number for verification." The two halted as the British voice came back over the intercom. A small panel in the wall slid up and out came a computer terminal. Leon swung his gun around out of instinct and tipped his head to the side. On the monitor were four empty boxes with a key board underneath and it gave Jill an uneasy feeling. They didn't know any pass codes.

"What do we do Leon?"

Leon took in a breath and looked at the monitor. He slid his Matilda into the holder on his thigh and walked slowly toward the key pad. Jill watched him rub his gloved fingers together before hitting four random numbers.

"Unauthorized access code. Please try again."

Leon made a face and entered in another four digit number. The woman spoke for a second time, informing him that he had again entered the wrong code.

"I don't want to know what happens if you get it wrong again…" Jill said looking over at him.

Leon took a guess and entered in another number. This time however the monitor retracted back into the wall and the panel slid closed. They exchanged a look but simply stood there, unsure what may happen next. They let the seconds tick past before Leon shrugged and continued to move forward.

_Thunk…_

_Thunk…_

_Thunk…_

The pair paused and turned back to the door that they had come through.

"Security breach in sector two."

_Thunk…_

_Thunk…_

"Leon… what the hell is that?" Jill asked in a tone so quiet she almost thought she hadn't said anything.

The two brought up their guns and waited.

_Thunk…_

_Thunk…_

_BAM!_

Jill brought up her arms to cover her face, as the heavy metal door went flying into the hallway. Leon straightened up and looked what was left of the door frame, and Jill watched the color drain from his face. She followed his gaze and nearly dropped her gun.

"Shit…" Leon said.


End file.
